Valmiki Ramayana in English by Gannamaraju Saibaba

G. SAI BABA

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CHAPTER - 1

Ayodhya was the capital city of the Kosala Kingdom. Theland was made fertile by the river Sarayu. Ayodhya was built byManu, the ruler of Surya dynasty.

King Dasaratha was ruling the Kosala Kingdom. He was a greatwarrior. He helped Gods win many wars. Ayodhya meansunconqurable.

Dasaratha was a great king. He had eight ministers whowere efficient and intelligent. Rushi Vasista was his Guru.

Inspite of all his glory, Dasaratha could not escape theregret of not having sons. Hence, he consulted his Raja GuruVasista and other eminent Brahmins to advise him about this.

On their suggestion, Raja wanted to perform Aswamedhayaaga for the sake of male progeny. Yaaga was conductedsucessfully under the guidance of sages.

While Dasaratha was performing Aswamedha yaaga, inheaven many of the Gods met Brahma and prayed to save themfrom misery and hardship caused by Ravana, a devotee of Siva.He had a boon from Brahma to the effect that he would not die inthe hands of Devas, Asuras, Gandharvas, Yakshas. Due to hisarrogance, he neglected to include human beings in his list.Ravana was cruel and ill-treated Gods including women. His deedswere untolerable.

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All Devas approached Sri Hari and prayed to him to savethem from the clutches of Ravana. Hari pitied the Devas andpromised that he would be born as son of Dasaratha along withthree brothers as an outcome of a yagaa.

From the flames of the fire in yaagakundam a pious figurewith a pot of sacred payasa appeared and gave it to Dasaratha.King Dasaratha received the pot with great pleasure and distributedpayasa to his three wives Kousalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi. He gavehalf of the quantity of payasa to Kousalya and half of the remainingto Sumitra. Then he divided the remaining payasa into two parts.One part was given to Kaikeyi and other to Sumitra again. ThusPutrakameshti yaga was successful.

The queens felt happy and blessed by Devas and drankthe payasa with great devotion. In due course, after one year,four sons were born to Dasaratha. Kousalya gave birth to Rama.Kaikeyi gave birth to Bharatha and Sumitra to two sons,Lakshmana and Satrughna, as she took payasam twice. Four sonsof Dasaratha grew up to be strong, brave and attained all thequalities of Kshatriyas. Dasaratha was contemplating marriagefor his sons.

Unexpectedly, Rushi Viswamitra came to Ayodhya. KingDasaratha received the Rushi with due respect and honoured him.Dasaratha was very happy at the arrival of Viswamitra, who cameto him voluntarily. Dasaratha enquired the reason for Rushi’s visitand promised him that he will fulfill any of his requests.

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Sage Viswamitra was very pleased by the word given byDasaratha. He asked the Raja to send Rama to Aranya with himto kill Maareecha and Subahu, the demons who were disruptingthe yaaga by pouring blood and flesh in yaagakundam. HearingViswamitra, Dasaratha was stunned and became speechless. Aftersometime he recovered and gained composure.

King Dasaratha begged Viswamitra not to take Rama alongwith him to Aranya as he is still young and innocent in the ways ofwar. He does not know how to face the dreadful demons likeSubahu and Maareecha who are full of cunning and deciet. Ramadoes not know the tricks of war and secrets of maya that theseDanavas play. King requested Rushi Viswamitra to allow himinstead to accompany him to Aranya with huge army to killrakshasas to save yaaga. Rushi Viswamitra got irritated and angryat the words of Dasaratha. Breaking of promise will be a blemishon the dynasty of Ikshvaku, the Rushi warned.

Vasishta advised Dasaratha not to go back on his wordand tried to convince King Dasaratha by saying that Viswamitra isa powerful sage who can destroy Rakshasas all by himself. ButRushi Viswamitra wants to bring out the valour of Rama out in theopen and mark Rama as a great warrior and archer.

Vasishta warned Dasaratha that the failure to fulfill thepromise made to the Rushi will lead to misfortune. There is noway to escape except to send Rama with Viswamitra. KingDasaratha made up his mind to send Rama along with Viswamitrareluctantly.

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Lakshmana who was in Rama’s company constantly,wanted to follow him to Aranya as well. Rama and Lakshmana,armed with bows and arrows, followed Viswamitra into Aranya.They reached the banks of river Sarayu where Rama andLakshmana rested for the night on the grass.

Early morning of the next day, Guru Viswamitra, wokeRama and Lakshmana up by reciting the sloka

“Kousalya supraja Rama poorva sandhya pravartateUttishta nara shardula kartavyam daivamahnikam”

Which means “Wake up O Rama, the good son ofKousalya as sun is rising in the east and perform the necessaryrituals”

Rama and Lakshmana performed the required rituals inthe morning after which Viswamitra taught Rama two mantras“Bala and Atibala”, which will enable Rama to conquer hunger,thirst and tiredness. Rama in turn taught these two to Lakshmana.On the way, they found a deserted kingdoms namely Karushaand Malada.

The demon Tataka with his son, Subahu was residing inthe area. She was daughter of yaksha, Suketu. With blessing ofBrahma, Suketu got a daughter. She had strength of ten thousandelephants. She married Sunda. Due to a curse from Agastya,Sunda died. Tataka and her son Subahu attacked Agastya withvengeance. Agastya then cursed them to become rakshasas. ThenTataka and Subahu destroyed the kingdoms of Karusha andMalada as Agastya had once stayed there.

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Viswamitra entered Aranya with Rama and Lakshmana.He narrated the story of Tataka and cautioned them. He orderedRama to kill Tataka and protect the interests of sages and people.Rama strung his bow and pulled on it with great strength. A loudthunder was heard everywhere. The wildlife in the forest ran helter-skelter. This dreadful sound reached the ears of Tataka and shegot angry. She appeared in front of them looking fearsome. Shepelted them with boulders. Rama wanted to punish Tataka bycutting off her limbs as she was a woman. But Tataka wasferocious. She tried to attack Rama and Lakshmana with everrising strength and power as the sunset was nearing. Viswamitrathen asked Rama to kill Tataka without hesitation. Dasaratha hadordered Rama to obey Viswamitra and hence it became Rama’sduty to follow Viswamitra’s instructions. He killed Tataka byshooting an arrow to her chest.

Viswamitra felt happy and blessed Rama. The forest wasrid of Tataka. Rama and Lakshmana followed Viswamitra andreached his ashrama where yaaga was being performed.Viswamitra was very pleased with Rama’s obedience and tact.He taught Rama, divine astras obtained through his tapas.

Viswamitra began to perform yaaga. It went on for fivedays without incident. But on the sixth day Subahu and Maareechaappeared roaring loudly in the sky. Rakshasas tried to pour bloodand flesh in the yaagakundam to destroy the yaaga. Rama andLakshmana observed the actions and movements of demons.

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Rama launched Maanavastra(“Seteshuvu”) on Maareecha.It hit him so hard that he was thrown to a distance of hundredyojanas. Next, it was Subahu’s turn. He was killed by Rama withAgneyastra. After this, yaaga went on smoothly and was concludedsuccessfully.

Viswamitra felt that his work with Rama was still incomplete.He knew that kalyanam of Rama with Sita would complete hiswork. After successful completion of sacred yaaga, Viswamitradecided to take Rama and Lakshmana to Mithila, the city of Janaka.The main aim of Rushi was to show the bow of Siva which wasmarvellous and unlifted by anybody. The King Devaratha belongedto Nimi dynasty. Devaratha was the sixth king in Nimi dynasty.The bow was presented by Gods to Devaratha. The city of Mithilaflourished in the name of Mithi, the son of Nimi. Janaka alsobelongs to Nimi dynasty and he was the king of Videha. Theancient, wonderful and powerful bow of Rudra was ancestralproperty of Janaka Raja.

While proceeding to Mithila, Rama and Lakshmana cameacross one deserted ashrama. Rama and Lakshmana wereanxious to know about it.

Viswamitra narrated the history of ashrama which belongedto Rushi Gowthama. Ahalya was wife of Gowthama. She was verybeautiful. Gowthama was a great tapasa with enriched power.Indra was fond of Ahalya. He had a plan to approach Ahalya inthe absence of Gowthama. One day, in the

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absence of Gowthama, Indra entered the ashrama disguised asGowthama. Ahalya identified him as Indra but could not save herchastity. She warned Indra to leave the place immediately beforeGowthama’s arrival. By the time, Indra tried to disappear,Gowthama appeared before him with unlimited anger. He cursedIndra that he would lose testicles. Now Gowthama turned to Ahalyaand cursed her that she would lie as a heap of ash unseen byanybody without food, swallowing only air. He showed her theway to get rid of the curse. He told that when Rama, son ofDasaratha enters the ashrama, she would get her previous life.

Hearing to Viswamitra, Rama entered ashrama. As soonas Rama stepped into Ashrama, Ahalya got her real shape. Ramaand Lakshmana paid respects to her and got blessings from her.Gowthama Rushi also came to his ashrama. Couple Ahalya andGowthama, expressed gratitude and paid respects to Rama. Bothbrothers, Rama and Lakshmana continued their walk to Mithilawith Viswamitra. They had heartful, grand welcome from JanakaRaja of Videha.

The purohita, Satananda, praised the greatness ofViswamitra before Rama, Lakshmana and Janaka and narratedunparalleled deeds of Rushi. Janaka had introduction of sons ofDasaratha. Viswamitra praised Rama and Lakshmana as greatwarriors who punished rakshasas and saved his yaaga.

Janaka was a great ruler loved by people. He was notonly a warrior but also a great philosopher, a yogi with bundle ofgnana.

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King Janaka had no children. As a part of yaaga, once heploughed the land. At the time of ploughing the field, Janaka Rajafound a female child in the furrow. As she was found in the furrow,she was named as Sita. Sita means furrow in Sanskrit. Sita wasvery much loved by the Janaka while growing up. Sita was nothingbut an incarnation of Sri Lakshmi Devi, wife of Bhagavan Sri MahaVishnu. She attained the age of marriage. Janaka announced thathis daughter Sita would marry the prince who can move, lift, bendand string the ancient bow of Siva presented by Devas.

On order by Janaka, five thousand strong men broughtthe bow of Siva with great difficulty to the midst of sabha. Withpermission of Viswamitra, Rama went to the bow and lifted it upand strung the bow. The bow of Siva broke with loud noise. Theearth quaked amidst loud thundering. Except Viswamitra, Janaka,Rama and Lakshmana all others fell unconscious unable to bearthe fury unleashed due to the breaking of the bow of Siva.

King Janaka felt happy. Heart of Sita was filled withunbounded joy. Janaka decided to get Sita married to Rama, hissecond daughter Urmila to Lakshmana. He sent messengers toAyodhya to convey the news and invite King Dasaratha with familyand administrators.

King Dasaratha arrived in Mithila with his queens andadministrators. Dasaratha was welcomed heartily by Janaka.Janaka sought consent of Dasaratha for the marriage of Sita withRama. On an auspicious day, Rama wedded Sita. Lakshmana

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married Urmila. On the advice of Viswamitra and Vasishta,Bharatha and Shatrughna married Mandavi and Srutakeertirespectively, daughters of Kushdhwaja, brother of Janaka Raja.Not only the people of Ayodhya, Mithila but the Devas felt happyand the world celebrated their marriage that day. The kalyanamof Sita and Rama was treated as kalyanam of the world.

Dasaratha was returning to Ayodhya with wives, familymembers and four new wedded couples and his servants. Theirjourney was continuing in merry mood. Unexpectedly, natureturned dark and foreboding with bad omens. Parashurama, anavowed enemy of Kshatriyas, appeared before Dasarathi and hisfollowers wielding his weapon of choice, an axe, also calledParashu.

He killed the kings, 21 times. As he wears Parashu, hewas called Parashurama. He was also the incarnation of Sri MahaVishnu. The breaking of bow of Rudra was the cause ofParashurama’s rage. He wanted revenge for that. He castigatedRama for breaking the bow of Siva. Rama remained calm. Hepaid respect to Parashurama as he was a Brahmin and elder tohim. Dasaratha and Janaka were afraid of Parashurama.

Parashurama challenged Rama to take Vaishnavachapam, the bow of Vishnu from him and string it. Humbly, Ramatook the bow of Vishnu from Parashurama and strung it. Afterstringing the bow, Rama placed an arrow on the bow and pulledit. Rama asked his rival what should be done with the arrow which

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is ready to be shot? When Rama’s arrow is pulled, it must not goin vain. It must punish something. Then Parashurama replied thathe could not surrender the land he obtained from Kshatriyas as itwas gifted to Kashyapa. The arrow which was pulled couldconsume all his tapas and he would proceed to Mahendragiri.Rama shot the arrow and drew his tapas. Parashurama becamepowerless and mild. He praised the qualities of Rama anddisappeared. Thus the avatara of Parashurama ended.

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CHAPTER - 2

Dasaratha with sons, daughter-in-laws, ministers andservants reached Ayodhya happily. The people of Ayodhya livedwith joy during the reign of Dasaratha. But Dasaratha was feelingthe burden of ruling the country due to his advanced age. Hemade up his mind to crown Rama as yuvaraja and free himself ofthe burden.

Rama and Sita spent wedded life happily. Rama was kind,brave, courteous and he attained all the royal qualities requiredfor a king. He was loved by all people. When Dasaratha assembledall of his ministers and people to express his desire to crown Ramaas yuvaraja, they expressed consent to make Rama as yuvarajaunanimously.

Dasaratha announed the pattabhisheka of Rama asyuvaraja. At that time, Bharata had been to Kekeya rajyam, wherehis grandfather lived. Shatrughna stayed with him there. Time wastoo short. Dasaratha could not invite Janaka Raja and KekeyaRaja for the celebration of yuvaraja pattabhisheka of Rama.

The star was Pushyami as it was auspicious. The streetswere cleaned and decorated with variety of flowers and brightlights. Entire Ayodhya was colourful with banana and mangobranches. The people were anxious to witness the coronation ofRama.

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There was one servant maid called Manthara. She wassent with queen Kaikeyi, to Ayodhya at the time of queen’s marriageas a gift. She went up to the palace and witnessed the town filledwith wonderful decorations and flags flying atop the houses.Manthara was surprised to see the celebrations in the city. Latershe came to know that Dasaratha was performing coronationceremony to Rama as yuvaraja.

Manthara is one of the important characters in theRamayana as she was responsible to send Rama to forest andconsequences that arose from this action resulting in the rest ofRamayana. Manthara was very jealous by nature. Though therewas no rivalry with Rama she wanted to put him through untoldtroubles. She rushed up to the bedroom of Kaikeyi where Kaikeyiwas resting on her bed. As soon as she stepped into the bedroom,she blamed Kaikeyi for having lied down and resting on the bedirresponsibly without knowing the things going on in the city.Manthara informed that Rama was being made as yuvaraja thenext morning and Dasaratha was neglecting the beloved queenKaikeyi. Kaikeyi was very happy when she heard of coronation ofRama because she loved and liked Rama with more affectionthan her own son Bharata. Rama also used to respect Kaikeyi asmuch as he used to respect his own mother Kausalya. But thecruel words of Manthara poisoned and tortured the mind of Kaikeyiand she made up her mind to punish Rama using Dasaratha asan instrument. Kaikeyi became puppet in the hands of Mantharaand Kaikeyi entered kopagruha.

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When Raja Dasaratha approached her, she pretended tobe angry with him. Raja asked the reason for her anger. She wassilent. Her silence was great punishment to Dasaratha. He beggedher humbly to explain the reason for her anger. He tried to consoleher with lovely words but all was in vain. She became very cruel atheart. Harshly, she demanded to fulfill two boons that were grantedto her when she saved his life in the battle against Danavas. Inthat war, Dasaratha fought on behalf of Gods. When Dasarathabecame unconscious, she took chariot to another side and savedhis life.

Dasaratha then promised to fulfill two desires of Kaikeyi.Kaikeyi took this opportunity to demand her wishes. They were1)Crown Bharatha as yuvaraja and 2) send Rama to forest for 14years. Hearing Kaikeyi’s wishes, King Dasaratha was stupefied.

Rama was life itself for Dasaratha. Without Rama, therewas no life for Dasaratha. He begged Kaikeyi to exempt Ramafrom sending to forest. King agreed to crown Bharatha as yuvarajaand asked Kaikeyi to withdraw her second desire. But Kaikeyirefused the request of Dasaratha and she was adamant on gettingboth the boons granted by Raja Dasaratha. He was helpless. Therewas no way to escape the word given to his beloved Kaikeyi. Heprayed to her that he would touch her feet to reconsidersympathetically and save him by keeping Rama in his presenceat all times. But his repeated requests went in vain. Dasarathawas sad and his condition was pitiful. He called on Rama throughminister Sumantra. Rama appeared before his father with folded

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hands. Dasaratha was unable to express his pain and no wordscame out of his mouth. He shed tears. Rama was anxious to knowthe cause for his father’s distress.

Rama turned to mother Kaikeyi and asked her humbly thereason for his father’s distress. He promised his mother that hewill fulfill his father’s orders.

Kaikeyi told Rama the cause of distress of the King. Sheexplained her two demands of coronation of Bharata and vanavasaof Rama for fourteen years. Rama heard the demands of Kaikeyicalmly. He was neither frustrated nor displeased. He promised tofollow their orders and fulfill both the boons granted to Kaikeyi.Kaikeyi ordered Rama to leave for forest immediately to avoidcomplications. Rama returned to his palace. He decided to proceedto vanavasa. He sought for permission of mother Kousalya whodid not agree to send Rama to forest. Rama tried to convince hismother preaching dharma. Kousalya wanted to follow Rama tothe forest. Rama told mother that it was the duty of the wife toserve her husband and she should not leave husband alone.Lastly he convinced his mother and obtained permission.

Sita decided to follow Rama to vanavasa as a Dharmapatni.But Rama denied her request. Rama told her that it was verydifficult to lead life in the forest where there will be wild animalsand serpents. He told her that it was difficult to walk on roughroads filled with thorns and sharp stones. Sita replied that sheknew of all the difficulties of life in forest. Sita then goes on to saythat she would be happy to live in the forest in the company

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of her husband rather than in the Royal palace alone. Sheemphasised that it was her primary duty to accompany him. Moreor less she warned him that her father would suspect hismanhood,if he fails to take her with him. Rama had no other choiceto take her to vanavasa with him.Brother Lakshmana also preparedto accompany Rama to safeguard the interests of brother Rama.Rama agreed for it.

Rama, Sita and Lakshmana set out on their way to forestDandakaranya. Kaikeyi brought and gave jute clothes to bothbrothers and Sita. Though Vasista objected to Sita wearing jutesarees, Sita as a Dharma patni preferred to wear jute sareesoffered by Kaikeyi. Rama helped Sita in wearing sarees.

Rama took permission from mothers Kousalya, Sumitra andKaikeyi and paid respects to Dasaratha and other elders. Sumitrainstructed Lakshmana to treat Rama as father and Sita as mother.Sumitra was an ideal mother. Charioteer Sumantra brought chariotand Sita, Lakshmana and Rama ascended it. Rama ordered thecharioteer to drive.

Father,mothers Kousalya, Sumitra and other elderly peoplefollowed the chariot. Rama could not digest the sad sight of themfollowing him. Rama ordered Sumantra to drive the chariot fastso as to make father, mothers and others to return to their homes.Rama instructed Sumantra to reply to Dasaratha that he couldnot hear the words “stop stop” uttered by him due to sounds ofchariot.

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Chariot reached the shore of River Tamasa. The peoplefollowing the chariot slept under the trees for the night. Ramadisliked the difficulties caused to the people by him. He wanted toleave that place before the people woke up.Rama,Sita andLakshmana sat on the chariot which moved many times forwardand backward to confuse the people and misguide them aboutthe route followed by Rama. Lastly the chariot proceeded towardsnorth. Rama paid respects to Ayodhya and prayed it to permit himto proceed further, at the time of crossing its borders.

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CHAPTER - 3

Rama, Sita and Lakshmana reached Shrungaberapuram

which was located on the bank of river Ganga. Shrungaberapuram

was the area inhabited by tribals and ruled by Guha. Guha received

Rama, Sita and Lakshmana with great respect and affection. Rama

refused to take food and drinks offered by Guha. They consumed

only fruits and water as Rama wanted to stick on to principles

prescribed for vanavasa.

At night Rama and Sita slept on the grass. Guha and

Lakshmana spent the night discussing the circumstances that led

to their vanavasa. Rama asked Guha to provide milk of tree called

Marri and apply them to both his and Lakshmana’s hair to roughen

them.

On instructions of Rama, Guha arranged boat to cross

the river Ganga. Lakshmana helped Sita to get into boat and then

Lakshmana and Rama boarded the boat.

While travelling, Rama thought of his mothers, Kousalya

and Sumitra and their situation at Ayodhya in the absence of their

sons. Rama asked Lakshmana to go back to Ayodhya and take

care of their mothers. But, Lakshmana told that his life was meant

for Rama’s service and nothing else. He expressed inability to go

back leaving brother in the forest. Lakshmana lastly told that hell

is better than heaven in the absence of his beloved God Rama.

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Rama, Sita and Lakshmana reached the Ashrama ofBharadwaja Sage who welcomed them with great respect andaffection. Bharadwaja Muni asked Rama to stay at his ashramaand spend vanavasa. As there is possibility of nearby villagersvisiting the ashrama, Rama humbly denied to stay at his ashrama.As per the suggestion of Bharadwaja Muni, Rama, Sita andLakshmana proceeded to a hill called Chitrakutam. They visitedValmiki Ashrama and got blessings of Valmiki Rushi. Lakshmanaconstructed a beautiful hut for their residence. Rama performedVastu pooja and entered the kutiram. They were residing happily,enjoying the beauty of the nature in the forest.

One day, suddenly they observed commotion in the forest.There were loud noises and elephants of the forest panicked andstarted running helter-skelter. The entire area was covered by acloud of dust.

Rama asked Lakshmana to find out the cause of thecommotion. Lakshmana climbed up a tree and witnessed hugearmy approaching in the direction of their tent. Lakshmana thoughtthat their brother Bharata was attacking Rama for the sake ofkingdom.

Lakshmana got angry. He asked Rama to permit him tokill Bharata saying that Bharata is coming to attack Rama.

Rama stood for peace. Lakshmana stood for revenge.Rama had faith that Bharata is coming to request Rama to takekingdom back. But Lakshmana had misunderstood Bharata’sintentions.

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Rama asked Lakshmana to be patient and relax andLakshmana kept quiet.

Bharata appeared before Rama with great respect anddevotion. He bowed before Rama on knees with tears. Bharatatold Rama that their father was no more. Rama was overcomewith great grief. Four brothers conducted Tarpana rituals in watersof river Mandakini with juices of berries.

After that Bharata asked Rama to return back and takethe crown in the interest of Ayodhya and people. Bharata expressedhis inability to rule the country as he was not proper authority.Rama is the only person who will satisfy the people as a goodruler.

The Muni Jabali also tried to convince Rama to come backto Ayodhya with his argument. Rama refused to agree with hisargument and proved that the argument is flawed. Rama rejectedthe direction of Guru Vasista to come back to Ayodhya also andhe announced firmly that he came over to forest to fulfill the pledgeof his father Dasaratha and he would never come back prior tofulfilling his Vanavasa deeksha.

Lastly on request of Bharata, Rama gave his footwear tohim. In turn Bharata ruled kingdom from Nandigram on behalf ofRama.

On account of Rama’s arrival to hill Chitrakutam, theRakshasa Khara began to ill-treat the sages. Sages left Chitrakuta.Demon Khara was the brother of Ravana. Inspite of Rama

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promising to demolish the entire race of demons, the sages leftChitrakuta with fear.

Troubles began for Rama. A giant with big mouth and deepeyes and misshaped body appeared before Rama, Sita andLakshmana. The demon caught Sita in his rough hand and carriedher to some distance. The ugly demon who caught Sita was calledViradha. He was son of Shatahrada and Jaya. Sita was afraid ofthat giant demon and cried loudly. Rama hurt him with sharparrows. In unlimited anger, Viradha caught Rama and Lakshmanaleaving Sita. Lakshmana cut the left hand and Rama cut his righthand. Ugly demon Viradha fell down to the ground.

The giant disappeared and a divine being came up andtold that he was a gandharva named Tumbura. Once he neglectedthe service of Kubera in lust of Rambha. Kubera cursed him tobecome giant with ugly body but was kind enough to tell that cursewill last till he was killed by son of Dasaratha.

Rama proceeded to Sharabhanga Maharishi’s ashrama.By the time Rama neared ashrama there was one divinepersonality with Sharabhanga Maharishi. Rama grasped that thedivine personality was Indra. He did not wish to disturb theconversation between them. So, he waited at a distance with wifeand brother till Indra disappeared. Indra wanted to meet Ramaafter completion of vanavasa deeksha. After departure of Indra,Rama stepped into ashrama and met Sharabhanga muni on whoseinstructions, Rama moved forward to meet Suteekshana muni.Sharabhanga muni gave all of his powers to Rama and

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went to satyaloka. Rama walked to Suteekshana muni andworshipped him with wife and brother. Suteekshana muni too gavehis powers attained through tapasa to Rama. Now Rama attainedall the powers necessary to demolish demons and establish peacein Dandakaranya.

Rama wanted to move to Dandakaranya. On the way, Sitaquestioned the wisdom of inviting enmity with demons withoutany cause. She told that enmity with anybody leads to unrest andchaos. Sita realised that it was duty of wife to suggest to husbandto not to step into wrong path. She knew dharma. She wantedherself to walk in right path and also make her people too to walkthe right path. Rama replied it was the bound duty of the kingsand kshatriyas to protect the people and sages from wicked powersand establish peace wherever they stay. Rama, Sita andLakshmana reached the ashrama of Atri muni. His wife wasAnasuya who taught the principles of good and sacred wife toSita.

On the way, they saw the ashrama of Agastya’s brother.After getting farewell there, they reached ashrama of Agastya whowas a powerful sage. He blessed Rama, Sita and Lakshmanaand directed them to live in Panchavati. Lakshmana constructeda beautiful Parnashala. They performed peace and vaastuworships and entered the Parnashala. For a few days they werevery happy there. That was winter which was favoured by kingsand farmers. Kings preferred to wage wars in snow season calledHemanta rutu.

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One day Rama and Sita were at Parnashala. One womanrakshasi by name Shurpanaka saw Rama and admired hishandsomeness. She was the sister of Ravana. She appearedbefore Rama and asked him to marry her. She told that she wasmore beautiful than Sita and Sita was in no way comparable toher. Rama took her words lightly and told her to approach hisbrother Lakshmana who could marry her as he was alone.Lakshmana refused to marry her saying that he was the servantof Rama.

Again Shurpanaka came to Rama and started to force himto marry her. When Rama denied her request she becameferocious and tried to eat Sita. Rama thought that jest was notappropriate with cruel people. Rama observed that situation wasvery serious and asked Lakshmana to punish her. Shurpanakabeing a lady, Lakshmana could not kill her. Hence he cut her noseand ears. She became ugly and cried loudly. She wanted to takerevenge on Rama and Lakshmana. She was jealous of Sita’sbeauty.

Shurpanaka with her ugly features went to Khara andDushana who were residing at Janapatham. They were very crueland powerful. Khara, brother of Shurpanaka with unbound angersent fourteen strong demons to kill Rama and Lakshmana.Fourteen demons followed Shurpanaka. They reached Rama whounderstood the matter and ordered Lakshmana to safeguard Sita.Then Rama attacked the demons and killed them in no time.Shurpanaka wept at the defeat of the followers.

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Again she came back to Khara and told him of the defeatand death of their followers at the hands of Rama. She explainedthat Rama was strong warrior and ordinary people could not facehim. Then Khara whose pride was injured, declared war on Rama,with his brother Dushana and fourteen thousand demons. Fourteenthousand demons were on one side, Rama was alone on the otherside. But Rama was supported by Dharma. Success will alwaysbe with Dharma. The style of war using arrows was marvellous.Khara and Dushana could not understand the usage of arrows byRama. Rama killed all the demons including Khara, Dushana andTrisura within minutes. The demise of Khara and Dushana wascarried immediately to Ravana by his spy called Akampana.Akampana described the glory and beauty of Sita. Ravana madeup his mind to make Sita his own.

Ravana went to the place of Maareecha, seeking his helpto trap Sita in disguise. Maareecha once experienced the pain ofblow from Rama and was afraid of going near him. Maareechawas afraid of Rama to the extent that he never wanted to hear thewords starting with Ra-kara, like Ratna and Ratha. He told Ravanathat it was not wise to pickup enmity with Rama who was so strongand powerful. He advised Ravana to leave the desire to get Sita.After hearing Maareecha’s advice Ravana returned to Lanka.

Ravana was a great warrior and staunch devotee of Siva.He defeated Gods many a times. He had 10 heads, 20 hands andbroad chest. He had scars of wounds caused in wars. He defeatedVasuki and Takshaka of Naga race. He defeated Kubera

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and captured his vehicle, an aeroplane called Pushpaka vimana.The beautiful garden called Nandanavanam of Indra was broughtunder his control. Ravana never had a defeat in his life.

Ravana sat in his sabha surrounded by ministers,administrators, servants and people. Shurpanaka with ugly bodyshedding blood fell down before Ravana. Ravana was astonished.Shurpanaka abused Ravana for his negligence towards the safetyof his people and his lust for ladies. She berated Ravana that hewas incapable of ruling Lanka as he lost command onadministration and had a failed spy system. Ravana, ashamed ofher words got angry. He decided to exact revenge on Rama andLakshmana by abducting Sita.

The preaching of Maareecha had gone in vain. That wasthe bad fate of Ravana and resulted in second attempt atapproaching Maareecha. Again Maareecha told that it wasinadvisable to wage war on Rama as he was supported by Dharma.He told that Rama was nothing but personifcation of Dharma(Ramo Vigrahavan Dharma). The enmity with Rama would todestruction of the Rakshasa lineage and demolition of Lanka.Ravana paid deaf ear to Maareecha. He threatened thatMaareecha would lose life if he failed to help him. Maareecha hada good will. He thought that it would be better to die in the handsof Lord Rama instead of cruel Ravana.

In no time, Ravana and Maareecha landed near theParnashala of Rama. Maareecha turned into a very beautiful andattractive golden deer. The golden deer started to move around

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the premises of Parnashala with intention to attract Sita’s attention.Ultimately the deer succeeeded in attracting Sita’s attention. Sheasked Rama to get the deer for herself dead or alive. Rama hadno second thought. As soon as Sita asked for it Rama decided tocatch it with life if possible. Lakshmana doubted that it was a ployof rakshasas to harm them. But Rama did not care for the wordsof Lakshmana who was in turn instructed to watch and safeguardSita till Rama returns with golden deer.

Lakshmana had no choice but to do as told. He wasguarding the Parnashala watchfully. Golden deer led Rama faraway from Parnashala where it was killed by Rama. While dying,Maareecha shouted loudly “Haa Sita, Haa Lakshmana” imitatingthe voice of Rama. Sita heard those cries and thought of Rama indanger. She asked Lakshmana to go to help Rama immediately.Lakshmana thought wisely and told Sita that it was the plan playedout by the demons to mislead them. He explained that it was notthe cry of Rama as no danger could occur to Rama as he wascapable of protecting himself. But Sita did not agree. She refusedto believe Lakshmana and blamed him rudely that he was lustingfor her. Lakshmana was hurt by Sita’s words and they wereunbearable for Lakshmana because he treated and worshippedher like his own mother. The bad fate of Sita made her to losetemperament. Lakshmana warned Sita to be careful and leftParnashala in search of Rama. Lakshmana was prepared todisobey the orders of his elder brother as he could not tolerate thethorny words of Sita.

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Ravana was waiting for an opportune moment. Sita wasalone. Ravana approached in disguise of ascetic. He wasastonished on seeing the beauty of Sita. He started to praise thebeauty of Sita. Sita disliked the attitude of Ravana. She could nottolerate this from an ascetic. But she was helpless. Then Ravanacame out of his disguise. He had ten heads and twenty hands. Hewas fierce looking. He claimed that entire nature(sea, sky, air,water, earth), Gods, Nagas, Yakshas, the entire world was underhis control. He wanted to tempt Sita with his wealth and strength.He asked Sita to love and marry him and forget Rama. Ravanatold Sita that Rama would not dare to attack him as he could notface him in battlefield.

Sita warned Ravana with harsh words. She told that Ramawas a great warrior and follower of Dharma. Rama will certainlycome back and kill Ravana. She warned him that he is playingwith cobra as she is very sacred and chaste. She told not to invitedeath which was certain if he would go down this path. Ravanadid not pay attention to her words. He caught her by hair with lefthand and lifted up with right hand forcibly and got her into chariotand flew away in the sky. An eagle namely Jatayuvu, a friend ofDasaratha attacked Ravana to save Sita from Ravana. But hecould not prevent Ravana from abducting Sita. Ravana cut hiswings with sharp sword and the bird fell down in a pool of blood.

Inspite of her resistence Ravana carried Sita in chariot toLanka and kept her in Asokavana under the watch of femaledemons. When Ravana took her forcibly she dropped some of

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her ornaments tied in a piece of saree she wore. The bundle ofornaments fell in the hands of some of the vanaras staying on amountain.

Now and then, Ravana visited Ashoka vana and insistedthat Sita marry him. When she bluntly refused, he threatened herthat she would be eaten by demons. But, Sita never cared abouthis warnings. Many times Sita told him that her husband was aDharmamurti and follower of truth. One day or the other he wouldcome back and kill all the rakshasas including Ravana and entireLanka would be destroyed. It was not desirable to have her broughtto Lanka. She begged Ravana to free her and hand her over toRama with apologies.

Sita refused food and water offered by demons. She wasfasting at Ashoka vana. Gods thought that Sita should be alive.They planned and sent Indra who offered a sacred payasa toSita. After careful consideration, Sita trusted Indra and consumedpayasa. Hereafter, Sita could be alive without food and drinkbecause of the payasa she consumed.

While this was happening, in Dandakaranya, Rama wasanxious to return to Parnashala. He suspected that somethingfoul was afoot when Maareecha imitated Rama and cried for help.When he saw Lakshmana in the forest in search of Rama, hisdoubts came true. He questioned Lakshmana as to why he leftSita alone and came for him.

Lakshmana sadly replied that Sita forced him to go in

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search of Rama having heard the cries “Haa Sita, HaaLakshmana”. She suspected danger to Rama. Inspite of hisrepeated requests Sita blamed him that he is fond of Sita andcausing harm to Rama. With these unbearable harsh words ofSita, he was forced to leave her alone and come in search ofRama.

Rama and Lakshmana returned to Parnashala and couldnot find Sita. They searched for Sita extensively but their effortwas in vain.

Rama worried a lot, losing courage he wept for Sita.Lakshmana consoled him and advised elder brother to go in searchof Sita with confidence. Rama and Lakshmana moved from placeto place and searched inch by inch.

They saw some deers. Rama innocently questioned themwhether they saw Sita. All deers stood up at a time. Deers walkedto some distance towards south and again returned towards Rama.Then Rama understood that Sita was taken away towards south.Rama and Lakshmana continued their walk towards south-westdirection. They saw flowers scattered there. Rama recognisedthose flowers as the ones he had given to Sita. Later they found,the signs of rakshasa’s feet which were big in size and signs ofsmall feet which were considered to be of Sita’s. There were brokenparts of chariot. The situation was very fearful. Rama wept loudlystating that nobody was there to protect Sita when she was carriedby rakshasa. Lakshmana consoled Rama saying that they shouldface the circumstances bravely being

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Kshatriyas. They moved forward. They found the old bird, Jatayubleeding. He informed Rama that Sita was taken away by Ravanaforcibly and Ravana cut it’s wings when he tried to fight Ravana.After narrating the incident Jatayu died of his injuries. Rama waskind enough to perform the funeral of Jatayu who attained Moksha.

While Rama and Lakshmana proceeded forward in searchof Sita one woman demon caught Lakshmana and demanded tomarry her. Lakshmana got angry and cut her nose and ears andbreasts. At one place Rama and Laskmana came across an uglyrakshasa namely Kabanda. He had huge and heavy body withone eye. His head and neck were not visible. Face was attachedto stomach. He had lengthy hands which could spread over twoyojanas. He caught both Rama and Lakshmana in his hands andtook them to his mouth. Rama and Lakshmana encouraged eachother not to be afraid and planned to cut the hands of the rakshasa. Then they proceeded to cut his hands. Then Kabanda fell downon the ground. Kabanda informed that in his previous life he washandsome and rich. He was a son of Danuvu. He used to harassthe sages in disguise. Once he threatened sage Sthoolasharira.The sage got disturbed and cursed Kabanda to become ugly.When Kabanda prayed to show the way to get rid of the curse,sage Sthoolasharira was kind enough and told that the curse wouldlast till Rama cuts his hands. Again, Kabanda attacked Indra withpride having fearsome body. Indra struck him with swordVajrayudha. Then the head and neck slipped into his stomach.When he prayed to Indra, he too told that his real shape wouldreturn to him when his hands were cut by Rama.

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On request of Kabanda, Rama and Lakshmana performedAgnisamskara. Soon, the rakshasa appeared in his true shapeand informed Rama to approach vanararaja Sugreeva residing atRushyamooka parvata. Sugreeva was exiled by his elder brotherVali and was residing at Rushyamooka parvata. Ruma, wife ofSugreeva was also under the control of Vali. The king Vali wasforbidden by muni Matanga to come over to the area ofRushyamooka parvata.

On directions from Kabanda, Rama and Lakshmanaproceeded in westerly direction and reached ashrama of Sabari,an old woman. She was a stauch devotee of Rama. On instructionsof Guru Matanga muni, she waited for Rama’s arrival anxiously.She was serving all the Rushis with devotion and gained theirlove and affection. Sabari welcomed Rama and Lakshmana withaffection and offered sweet fruits to them. Rama praised hersincerity and her efforts to attain salvation. With permission ofRama she renounced life and attained Moksha.

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CHAPTER - 4

Rama and Lakshmana proceeded towards Rushyamooka

parvatha searching for Sugreeva. Sugreeva saw two people

wandering in the forest with bows and arrows. He was

apprehensive as he suspected them to be the spies of Vali. The

trustworthy follower Hanuman came to Sugreeva and asked the

reason for his restlessness. On reassuring Sugreeva, Hanuman

approached Rama and Lakshmana in disguise as an ascetic.

Hanuman sat on knees and folded hands humbly paying respects

to Rama. He introduced himself as a servant of king Sugreeva.

He politely asked Rama and Lakshmana who they were and the

reason for their arrival. He came to know that they were sons of

Dasharatha, king of Ayodhya and they were in search of Sita.

They came over to Rushyamookha parvatam, to meet Sugreeva,

to seek his help on Kabanda’s direction.

On hearing to Lakshmana, Hanuman told that Sugreeva

was also in need of help of Rama. Sugreeva was deprived of his

palace and life partner Ruma, by his elder brother Vali.

Rama praised Hanuman for his tactful, smooth and polite

manner of enquiry. Rama told Lakshmana that Hanuman was a

great scholar and Pundit who knows Rug, Yajur, Sama and

Adharvana vedas and grammar (Vyakaranam). Hanuman

endeared himself to Rama owing to his great qualities.

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Hanuman took his real shape. He made Rama andLakshmana to sit on his shoulders and carried them to RajaSugreeva. Hanuman introduced Rama and Lakshmana toSugreeva and told that they were their friends and Rama wascapable of killing Vali. And Rama was also in need of Sugreeva’shelp to find the whereabouts of his wife Sita. Hanuman told thatthey were in mutual need of each other.

Sugreeva brought a branch of tree and made Rama sit onit. Lakshmana was standing near by. Hanuman immediatelybrought another branch of tree and offered seat to Lakshmana aswell. Hanuman knew how to treat and respect the people. Fire asa witness, Rama and Sugreeva declared their friendship. Theytook oath to help each other.

Rama wanted to know the reason for rivalry between Valiand Sugreeva. Sugreeva narrated the facts that led to enmitybetween them. A Rakshasa called Mayavi was an enemy of Vali.One night Mayavi came to Kishkinda and challenged Vali for abattle. They fought for some time. Vali proved to be too powerfulfor Mayavi and he could not stand before Vali for long. He ranaway to a far away place and entered in a cave there. Vali chasedhim and he too entered cave following Mayavi. Sugreeva toofollowed them. Before entering the cave Vali asked Sugreeva towait outside the cave until he returns back. Sugreeva waited therefor nearly for one year. One day Sugreeva observed blood flowingout from the cave and heard the cries of Vali. Then Sugreevathought that Vali was killed in the battle and Sugreeva placed a

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huge rock on the entrance of the cave blocking the way out tokeep Mayavi holed up inside. Then Sugreeva returned to Kishkindaand his ministers pressurised him to occupy the chair of Kingdom.Relunctantly he agreed and took charge of Kishkinda in theabsence of Vali.

Surprisingly one day Vali returned to Kishkinda and hewas very angry with Sugreeva. Sugreeva explained true facts tohim that led to his coronation. But Vali did not believe the words ofSugreeva and beat Sugreeva almost to death. Sugreeva escapednarrowly from his hands and took shelter in Rushyamooka Parvatato where Vali and his followers cannot go as they were forbiddenby the Matanga Muni.

Sugreeva narrated another incident of fight between Valiand Rakshasa Dundibi. Dundibi was arrogant that no one coulddefeat him in a fight. He invited the Sagara for a fight. Sagarainformed that he was unable to face as he was protecting manycreatures in waters. He told that mountain Himalaya was suitablefor fight with Dundubi. Dundubi went to Himalaya and challengedhim for a fight. Mountain Himalaya said that he was providingshelter to many a sage, trees and rivers. So he was not ready fora fight. He told Dundibi to go to Vali as he was probably the onlyone fit enough to fight him. Then Dundubi went to Kishkinda andchallenged Vali for a fight. A tough fight took place between themand Vali killed Dundibi. Vali threw his body to a distance of oneyojana. The drops of blood fell in the ashrama of Matanga Muni.Matanga Muni saw this and cursed the persons responsible for

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the incident that they would die when they enter the premises ofthe ashrama. Since then Vali and his men were afraid of enteringthe premises of Rushyamooka parvatha where Sugreeva tookshelter.

After hearing to these facts, Rama promised to kill Vali.Still Sugreeva doubted the valour of Rama Again Sugreevainformed Rama that Vali was able to go round the earth and worshipGoddess Gayatri in four directions early in the morning. Sugreevaalso mentioned that Vali was capable of felling seven sala vrukshaat a time. Then Rama felt that it was necessary to establish faithin the mind of his friend Sugreeva. He threw the skeleton ofDundubhi with his toe to a distance of ten yojanas. Sugreeva toldthat Vali was able to throw the heavy body filled with blood andflesh. Next Sugreeva wanted Rama to demolish one tree usingonly one arrow. Rama demolished seven trees at a stretch withsingle arrow. The feat shown by Rama satisfied Sugreeva.Sugreeva gained full confidence in Rama. He prayed to Ramaand asked to excuse him for having expressed doubts on hisvalour. He wanted Rama to save him from Vali immediately.

On advice of Rama, Sugreeva went and invited Vali forfight. Rama was hiding behind a tree watching the fight betweenvanara brothers along with Lakshmana and Hanuman. Ramawaited for an opportune moment to launch the arrow on Vali. Butit was difficult for him to recognise Vali as both of them resembledeach other in size and shape. Sugreeva was almost beaten todeath by Vali and narrowly escaped and ran away.

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Sugreeva questioned Rama as to why he could not killVali. Rama replied that Vali and Sugreeva were same in shapeand actions. They resembled each other in every aspect. So hecould not release the arrow lest he shoot Sugreeva by mistake.Rama ordered Lakshmana to put a garland around Sugreeva’sneck. Again Sugreeva went to Vali and challenged him for a fight.Rama, Lakshmana and Hanuman waited behind the tree. Valiwith unbounded rage rose for the fight. Tara, wife of Vali tried toobstruct Vali to go for fight. She told that there must be somethingafoot as it did not make sense for Sugreeva to challenge himagain and again though he got deadly blows. She told thatSugreeva was blessed by Rama. Rama was nothing but theAvatara of MahaVishnu. But Vali truned a deaf ear to his wife Taraand fought with Sugreeva fiercely. While vanara brothers werefighting, Rama shot a powerful arrow at Vali. Immedietly Vali felldown to earth. Rama came to Vali and tried to console him. Valiblamed Rama for killing him hiding behind the tree. Vali told Ramathat had Rama requested him he would have punished Ravanasuitably and got back Sita to Rama within no time.

Rama was calm, and peaceful. He convinced Vali with softwords that he had expelled his brother Sugreeva and madeSugreeva’s wife his own. As a representative of king Bharata itwas his duty to punish and kill wrong-doers in the interest of peacein kingdom.

Vali realised that he had committed sins and begged Ramafor forgiveness. Rama consoled Tara who was in grief and asked

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Rama to kill and send her to her husband. Hanuman also consoledTara and told her to look after the welfare of their son Angada,and help him lead all the vanaras.

On instructions from Rama, Sugreeva performedobsequies to Vali. Rama could not go to Kishkinda to crownSugreeva as he should not step into a town or village till thevanavasa is completed. Hanuman and other vanara leaders wentto Kishkinda to crown Sugreeva as king and Angada as Yuvaraja.Tara also lived with Sugreeva along with Ruma as his wife.

As it was rainy season, it was not the suitable time toengage an enemy in war. It was not possible to go in search ofSita, during rainy season. Rama told Sugreeva to take up the taskto search Sita as soon as the rainy season comes to an end.

Sugreeva had lust for women and power. He was leadinga luxurious life with two wives. He had forgotten the pledge madeto Rama. He failed to take steps to search Sita as per promisethough the rainy season came to an end. The season of earlysnow called Sharatkala began. Sharatkala is known for beauty ofthe nature which provokes the lust for luxurious life. Hanumanonce reminded Sugreeva’s duty. Then Sugreeva ordered hiswarriors to assemble. Rama was eager to find Sita. The negligenceon the part of Sugreeva forced Rama to warn Sugreeva severelythrough Lakshmana stating that Sugreeva also would join hisbrother, if he neglects his duty.

Lakshmana walked to Kishkinda. He was very furious.

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Sugreeva was afraid of Lakshmana and could not face him directly.Sugreeva was in a drunken state. Sugreeva knew the tactfulnessof Tara and he asked her to talk to Lakshmana. Tara approachedLakshmana and informed that Sugreeva had lust for women andpower. He was not satisfied with the life spent so far as he wasdeprived of a real life for long time. Sugreeva was not at fault as itwas common for everybody to lead a luxurious life. However hehad already ordered the leaders of vanaras and the army toassemble and be ready to search for Sita as promised by him.Thus Tara convinced Lakshmana of Sugreeva’s sincerity.

Sugreeva also followed Lakshmana and met Rama withhumbleness. Once again he expressed his determination insearching for Sita. All battalions of Vanaras stood before Sugreevaand Rama.They were numbered in crores. They were ready totake up the task and were waiting for orders of the King Sugreeva,who asked Rama to give directions to Vanaras to proceed further.Rama told that it was the duty of King Sugreeva to issue suitableorders to his subordinates. Always Rama stood for Dharma.

Sugreeva narrated and described all the places to besearched with utmost care and he mentioned all secrets of allplaces to Vanaras proceeding to take up work. Rama was surprisedabout the extent of geographical knowledge that Sugreevapossessed. Rama asked Sugreeva how he attainted that level ofgeographical knowledge about borders and territories. Sugreevareplied that he rushed up place to place when he was hunted byhis brother Vali with no place left for shelter. Thus he

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came across all the places and came to know of their importance.

Sugreeva divided his companions into divisions. Croresof vanaras who were strong and capable awaited directions fromSugreeva. Sugreeva ordered vanara Vinatha to East, Hanumanand others to South under the leadership of Angada, Sushena toWest and Satavali to North and they proceeded with innumerablevanaras in tow in search of Sita. Rushaba, Mainda, Dvivida, Vijaya,Gandhamadhana, Ulkamuka, Asanga, Hanumantha andJambhavanta were main leaders of the force. Sugreeva orderedthe leaders to return to Kishkinda within a month. Otherwise, theywould be sentenced to death. All groups of Vanaras proceededas per directions issued to them under their leaders. Three groupsof Vanaras went towards east, north and west, returned withinright time to Kishkinda without fruitful result.

While sending Hanuman, towards south under theleadership of Angada, Rama gave his ring as a sign of identity toHanuman as Rama’s expectations on Hanuman were high thathe would be able to detect whereabouts of Sita. Rama knew thecapacity of Hanuma. The batallion under the leadership of Angadareached southern part of Vindhya parvata in search of Sita. Theywere hungry and thirsty. They were in need of food and water.They saw a cave from which birds were coming out with wet wings.They thought that there was water available in the cave. As perthe suggestion of Hanuma, all vanaras entered the cave whichwas covered with thick darkness. All vanaras one by one in queue,hand in hand entered the dark cave. At one particular point, they

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found a light shining brightly. That place exuded peace. Then theysaw some palaces . They saw a lady sitting in a halo of light. Shewore the skin of deer. Hanuman went to her humbly holding handsand asked her who she was. She replied that her name wasSwayamprabha. She informed that cave belongs to Hema, adancer of devaloka. She was loved by Maya who built up thegolden palace. Hema too loved Maya, a sculptor. Indra did nottolerate Hema’s love for Maya. Indra killed Maya. He gifted thegolden palace to Hema. In turn, Hema handed over the goldenpalace to Swayamprabha. Swayamprabha was kind enough tospare food, fruits and water to vanaras who were hungry and thirsty.All vanaras felt happy and grateful for food and water.

Hanuman narrated the incidents to Swayamprabha thattook place that led ultimately to search of Sita. He expressedgratitude for help extended to them. On Hanuman’s request, shedirected all vanaras to the shore of sea called Mahadadi.

The time fixed for their return by Sugreeva had expiredwhen the vanaras were in the cave of Swayamprabha. Angada,son of Vali, was afraid that his uncle Sugreeva would kill all vanarasbecause they failed to return back to Sugreeva on time. He decidedto leave life (prayopavesam). He was supported by some othercolleagues like Tara. Hanuma disliked the decision of Angada whowanted to do prayopavesam because Hanuman considered thiscourse of action to be cowardly. Hanuman advised Angada towithdraw his plan and instead redouble his efforts to find Sita.After detection of Sita, Sugreeva certainly would appreciate

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Angada and his followers. Angada turned a deaf ear to Hanumanand sat on grass to end his life.

There was one old eagle called Sampaati. He heard theconversation taking place between Angada and Hanuma fromwhich he understood that his brother Jatayuvu was dead when heobstructed Ravana.

Eagle Sampaati told vanaras that Jatayuvu was his brother.One day two brothers tried to fly up in the sky and reached thesun. Jatayuvu could not resist the hotness of the sun and wasabout to fall down. Then Sampaati, the elder brother tried to savehim by spreading his wings widely on his brother. The wings ofSampaati were burnt by the hotness of the sun and he fell downon the shore of Mahadadi.

He was unable to move from place to place because ofhis burnt wings. He requested the vanaras to carry him to seashore so as to enable him to perform Tarpana to Jatayuvu.Sampaati again told the vanaras who were depressed, when hetried to commit suicide, the Nishakara maharishi informed thosewings that he lost could be gained back when he helps to Ramain search of Sita.

Sampaati with his divine vision informed that Sita wascarried away by Ravana to his kingdom, Lanka. And Sita wasunder the watch of demons in his palace. Lanka was far away, ahundred yojanas from that place. One should cross the sea spreadover one hundred yojanas to find Sita. As soon as Sampaati

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informed the fact of Sita, he got his wings back and flew away.With this fruitful insight, Angada and others gained confidenceand decided to continue searching for Sita.

No vanara was able to cross the distance of one hundredyojanas at a stretch. Angada was able to cross the sea spreadover one hundred yojanas at one time. But he expressed hisinability to return back. Jambavanta, the old bear told that he wentround the entire earth and did pradakshina of Vamana when BaliChakravarty was dethroned. But it was when Jambavanta wasyoung. But now, he was unable to cross the sea due to old age.

Jambavanta knew the strength of Hanuma who sat alone.He went to Hanuma and helped him to recollect the extent of hisabilities. Hanuman was cursed by rushis to forget his power andability till others remind him. In his boyhood Hanuma was disturbingthe tapas of rushis with silly behaviour. Hanuman was naughty inboyhood. He had forgotten his past and behaved as a commonerdue to curse of Rushis.

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CHAPTER - 5

Jambavanta alerted him and asked to take up the taskimmediately. With recollection of past Hanuman rose to theoccasion. He pressed the mountain Mahendra with feet and flewup in the sky. The force was so great that as soon as it happened,the trees, mountains, wild animals, the entire nature becamechaotic. Hanuman prayed to Rama in mind and said that he wouldtravel like an arrow of Rama straight to Lanka to achieve the goal.Hanuman travelled from north to south which was a bad omen forLanka. Hanuman was blessed by Surya who protected him fromhis hotness. The wind felt cool to him.

While Hanuma was crossing the ocean, Sagara called onMynaka mountain and asked him to offer grand reception toHanuman. The existence of Sagara was due to the king of Ikshvakadynasty named Sagara Chakravarty. Mountain Mynaka was alsorescued by Vayudeva, the father of Hanuma. To express theirgratitude to Hanuma, who was on the work of Rama, the oceanSagara asked Mynaka to invite Hanuma as a guest and respecthim. Hanuman respectfully denied the invitation offered by Sagarathrough Mynaka and touched the mountain Mynaka with handand told that it was not the proper time to accept invitations andwaste time. He informed that he would not take rest till he foundSita. While Hanuman was crossing the ocean , he was obstructedby Surasa, a Nagadevata on request of Gods to test the sincerityand honesty of Hanuman. Surasa changed

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her shape as a Rakshasa and stopped Hanuman and asked himto become food for her. Hanuman promised her that he wouldbecome food for her on return journey and prayed her to let himproceed. But she did not agree and insisted that he become herfood immediately as per the boon granted by God Brahma. ThenHanuman spread his body to hundred yojanas. Surasa alsoopened mouth to the extent of hundred yojanas. Quickly Hanumanshortened his body to thumb size. He entered her mouth and cameout within a moment without giving scope to close her mouth.Surasa appeared in her real shape and appreciated the timelythinking of Hanuman. She blessed Hanuman and wished himsuccess in his efforts.

Again Hanuman was obstructed by a Demon called“Chayagrahi”. She pulled Hanuman with all her strengthdownwards. He faced difficulty to move ahead. He observed thatsome unknown devilish power was pulling him down. Herecollected the words of Sugreeva who warned the danger ofSimhika. He understood that Simhika was pulling him down andhe attacked her. Simhika raised her body and opened mouth wide.Hanuman within no time entered her mouth and gave a deathblow to her and she instantly lost life.

Finally, Hanuman reached Lanka crossing the Ocean. Heenjoyed the beauty of Lanka. To escape the attention of theRakshsas, he reduced himself to the size of a cat. Inspite of hisefforts, he could not escape the attention of Lankini, the protectorof Lanka. She roared up and questioned him as to who he was?

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Hanuman asked her to allow him to enter the city and enjoy itsbeauty. She did not permit him and struck a blow to Hanuman. Inturn he also struck a strong blow and she fell down. Sheappreciated Hanuman and told him as per verdict of Bramha herdefeat would cause the demolition of Lanka and its public andrulers. Hanuman climbed the wall and jumped inside the Lanka.He put left leg on the floor of Lanka which was a bad thing forLanka. That was night. The moon was shining in the sky. Hanumanpaid namaskarams to moon who showered coolness and brightlight to help Hanuman in his search for Sita. Hanuman felt happyfor the help extended by the God Moon.

Hanuman searched for Sita every inch in the palaces inthe Lanka, guarded by a huge army of soldiers. The Demons ofall shapes and sizes, tall, short, stout and of odd appearanceswere armed with deadly weapons and were patrolling in alldirections of Lanka. The city of Lanka was located on Trikutadri. Itwas adorned with diamonds, pearls and rubies. There were anumber of palanquins, chariots, elephants, horses and a varietyof vehicles in Lanka. Hanuman entered the palace where wivesof Ravana were sleeping. It was midnight. The beautiful womenwere lying on their rich beds in deep slumber. Their valuable andshining ornaments and clothes were in disarray. They seemed tobe tired after Kamakeli. He searched the residences ofVibheeshana, Mahodara, Virupaksha, Sarana, Jambumali,Indrajith etc for Sita. Inspite of his sharp vision and thorough searchhe could not trace the whereabouts of Sita. Hanuman got

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disappointed and depressed. His thoughts had gone to the extentof suspecting the demise of Sita. Again and again he thought ifSita were dead , Rama would not live. Consequently Lakshmanaand their other two brothers, their mothers would not be able tolive after hearing this news. Hanuman wanted to end his life. Againhe recollected the words of old eagle bird Sampaati that Sita wasalive in Lanka. He came to a conclusion that it would be better tobe a Taapasi instead dead. Hanuman lastly decided atleast to killRavana, if he failed to find Sita’s whereabouts. For a minute hemeditated. He prayed to Rama, Lakshmana, Sita, Indra, Agni andother deities. Then he got an idea to search in a garden calledAshokavana which was left unsearched. He entered and sat on abranch of tree Simshupa. He hid on back of leaves. He observeda lady who was alone under a tree, she was very weak and hercondition was pitiable. The saree worn by her was old anduncleaned. The ornaments mentioned by Rama were foundhanging to the branches of Simshupa tree. Hanuman firmlydecided that she was Sita, wife of Rama. She was surrounded bywomen demons, who were ugly looking. Sita was uninterested inher surroundings. She had her attention neither on demons noron the nature. Her mind was filled with husband Rama. HeartfullyHanuman paid respects to Sita by folding hands.

Sun appeared in the sky, with bright rays. Bramharakshasarecited vedas. Ravana went to Ashokavana along with women tosee Sita. He insisted that she marry him and enjoy the glory of hiskingdom. He disturbed Sita with unlawful, vulgur language. Shefelt ashamed of his behaviour.

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Sita treated Ravana lesser than a piece of grass. Shepicked up a piece of grass and kept in between Ravana and herself.She followed the custom that women should not talk with unrelatedman directly.

Sita sincerely advised him to be satisfied and live happilywith his wives. The desire on women other than wife was like asetting fire to one’s clothes. The desire on Rama’s wife wouldcause death to Ravana, his sons, ministers and army. The entireLanka would be ruined and become burial ground. Sita warnedRavana severely and sincerely advised him to hand her over toRama and beg for pardon. Ravana got angry and ordered womendemons to be strict and act cruelly till Sita agrees for his proposal.But Sita did not pay attention to his threatnings. The demons beganto threaten Sita, that they would eat her, if she did not agree tomarry Ravana. Sita was disgusted with Ravana’s misbehaviourand she tried to hang herself with hair. Then she heard narrationof dream of Trijata, and she got confidence and relief.

Trijata had a soft corner for Sita. She supported Sita inevery aspect. She enligtened other cruel demons with the dreamthat she got. She narrated the facts she saw in the dream. Sitasat on white mountain amidst the ocean. Then Sri Rama, on greatelephant came with Lakshmana and picked up Sita on to theelephant. Sita touched the sun and moon with the hands. Ramatravelled in Pushpaka vimaana towards north , which was goodsign for Sita.

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On the other hand, Ravana’s body was covered with oil.He rolled on earth. He was wearing red dress. He fell down fromPushpakaVimana. He was wearing the garland of raintree(ganneru) flowers. He fell down from a chariot drawn by donkeys.Ravana travelled on pig, Indrajit on crocodile and Kumbhakarnaon camel travelled towards south. It was a bad omen to Ravanaand his Lanka, which drowned in sea, as told by Trijata. The settingof fire to Lanka by Hanuman was also witnessed by Trijata in herdream, which would become true later.

Hanuman waited for an opportunity to appear in real shapeand to have conversation with Sita. He obsereved that Sita wasalone and then he sang a story of Rama in a low voice, which washeard by Sita alone. Sita looked at Simpshupa tree and sawHanuman singing the song. She was surprised and becameunconcious. But she recovered quickly and woke up. She thoughtthat it might be a dream. But she confirmed that it was not a dreamas the appearance of vanara was true. And singing a song wasalso real. In the meanwhile Hanuman got down from the tree andsat on his knees before Sita.

Hanuman humbly asked her who she was? She told thatshe was the daughter-in-law of King Dasaratha and daughter ofJanaka and wife of Rama. Hearing to Sita, the heart of Hanumanfilled with joy. He introduced himself as Hanuman, devotee of Ramaand servant of Sugreeva, the Vanara King. He informed that Ramaand Lakshmana were in search of her. He told that Rama is worriedfor her and he is not taking meat and liquor. He

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was always thinking of Sita.. To satisfy Sita, Hanuman describedthe structures of bodies with divine qualitities of both Rama andLakshmana. Hanuman told that he was sent by Rama andSugreeva in search of Sita. Sita questioned how the man andvanara became friends? Hanuman narrated the facts right fromRama and Sugreeva becoming friends, death of Vali, sendingVanaras in search of Sita and crossing of ocean by him and findingher. Even then Sita doubted the presence of Vanara before her.Then Hanuman showed and handed over the ring given by Ramaas a sign of identity. Sita took the Ring and felt happy that Ramawas with her. She gained confidence and believed the words ofHanuman. Then she informed Hanuman the harassment ofRavana and the time limit left for her was only two months out ofa total one year given by Ravana. She asked Hanuman to bringRama to her and release her from Lanka. Hanuman asked herto sit on his shoulder so that he would take her to Rama safely.Sita doubted the capability of Hanuman as he was too short.Hanuma felt ashamed of the words of Sita and immediately heexpanded his body to the extent of Meru and Mandadri mountains.Sita was surprised seeing the Hanuman’s body. She consoledHanuman and expressed regret for the words she spoke. Sheexplained that if she was taken by Hanuman to Rama, the prestigeof Rama would be degraded. So Rama himself had to kill theenemy and take her back. She asked Hauman to go back to Ramaand send him to Lanka soon. Hanuman was very intelligent. Heasked Sita to mention some of the important events took place

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between Rama and herself. Sita narrated the event of the crownamely Jayanta, son of Indra. One day Rama and Sita were inthe garden. She was sitting on thigh of Rama. A crow came andbegan to poke her breast with it’s nose. While adjusting her girdle,Sita cried loudly and angrily. The crow ran away and again returnedwhen Rama slept on thighs of Sita. The crow began to poke herbreast again and again due to which blood came out. With painSita woke up Rama and told him about the crow. Rama took apiece of grass and used on the crow as a Brahmastra. It huntedthe crow as crow was fleeing from place to place. Crow went toIndra and other deities for protection. But they all expressed inabilityto save him from Rama’s astra. The crow returned back to Ramaand prayed for forgiveness. The astra removed one eye of theCrow as astra once used should not go wasted. With kindness ofRama the Crow kept it’s life but lost one eye as a punishment.

After narrating the incident of the Crow as a sweet memoryto Rama, Sita gave a jewel called “Choodamani” as her identity toRama. Hanuman took it. He wanted to return back to Kishkinda.Before leaving for Kishkinda, Hanuman wanted to know thestrength of Ravana and his force. He wanted to know the secretsof Lanka so as to enable Rama and Sugreeva to strategise betterfor the war.

Pramadavanam, a beautiful garden was the first victim ofHanuman’s wrath. It was much liked by Ravana. Hanuman killedsome of the guards who attacked him to save the garden. Some

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of the guards rushed to Ravana and informed the destruction ofthe garden by a monkey. Ravana sent eighty thousand soldiersto catch and bring the monkey. All the soldiers sent by Ravanawere killed by Hanuman. Ravana took the matter seriously andsent Jambumali, son of Prahasta, sons of ministers, and othersoldiers like Virupaksha, Yoopaksha, Durdara, Praghasa,Bhasakarna to face Hanuman and they were also killed by him.Aksha Kumara a great warrior attacked Hanuman fiercely and hetoo lost life.

After the death of Aksha Kumara, Indrajit beloved son ofRavana attacked Hanuman. A great battle took place betweenthem. Lastly Indrajit launched Brahmastra on Hanuman whosurrendered himself voluntarily respecting the God Brahma. TheRakshasas tied him with ropes and brought him to Ravana in hiscourt. Hanuman wanted to see Ravana and wanted to estimatehis strength. When he saw Ravana he was surprised by thehandsome figure with strong body.

Hanuman introduced himself as the servant of Rama andwarned Ravana severely and asked him to hand over Sita withdue respect and save Lanka and it’s people. Ravana got angryand asked his people to kill him. But Vibhishana, brother of Ravanatold that it was not fair to kill the ambassador but there were manyways to punish the culprit. Ravana realised the fault and asked toset fire to tail of the Monkey without which it will look ugly and hewill be a laughing stock. Rakshasas with great zeal tied clothes tothe tail and poured oil on it and set it on fire. Hanuman was taken

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to streets of Lanka to shame him. Hanuman was calm. He wantedto see Lanka in day light and observe it’s every nook and cornerand estimate it’s strength. Hanuman followed the demons to somedistance and after that he threw them away forcefully and jumpedup onto the palaces and set fire to them. He jumped from mansionto mansion and set fire to Lanka and turned it to ashes. Sita cameto know that fire was set to the tail to Hanuman. She prayed toAgni Deva to be cool to Hanuman. Hence fire neither botherednor burned Hanuman. Later Hanuman realised and repented thatSita could have been caught in the fire and died. But heimmediately consoled himself that fire cannot do any harm to Sitaand realised that it was due to her prayer that fire was cool to himand did not burn him. He went to Sita’s place where he found hersafe.

Hanuman decided to return to Kishkinda where his friendsand colleagues were waiting anxiously. He climbed up themountain Aristagiri and moved North from South. On return journeyhe touched Mountain Mynaka courteously and continued journey.Colleagues heard the loud sound of wind caused flying ofHanuman and felt happy for his return safely. To avoid anxiety tohis colleagues, Hanuman cried loudly that he saw Sita. All vanaraswere very happy and they proceeded to Sugreeva with Hanuma.On the way they entered into Madhuvanam guarded byDhadhimukha, a representative of Sugreeva who liked and tookcare of Madhuvanam with great interest. All vanaras withpermission of Hanuman in drunken mood spoiled the trees and

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beauty of vana. They gave blows to Dadhimukha who obstructedtheir enjoyment. On report of Dadhimukha, Sugreeva felt that itwas sign of great achievement by Hanuman. He ordered thevanaras to come and meet him urgently.

All vanaras including Hanuman, appeared beforeSugreeva. Rama was very anxious to hear the news. Hanumanhumbly informed Rama that he saw Sita at Lanka. Her conditionwas very pitiable and serious. She was eagerly waiting for Rama’sarrival. Only one month was left for her to be alive. Hanumanshowed Rama the ornament given by Sita. Rama took the jewelsent by Sita and felt the presence of his wife and wept for her inagony. Rama felt that there was no suitable gift to present toHanuman other than an embrace. As a great reward than anyother Rama heartfully embraced Hanuman. Hanuman clearly toldthe greatness of Lanka with it’s strength of army, forts and themeans of war etc to Rama. Rama decided to raid Lanka withoutloss of time. That was the auspicious day with star Uttara Phalguni.Next day was Hasta nakshatra.

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CHAPTER - 6

Sugreeva, Angada, Jambavanta, Neela, Hanuman andother great vanaras were present before Rama and Lakshmanaand waited for orders. Rama planned the war. At first it was decidedthat vanara Neela would lead the batallion. The route they wouldtravel should contain trees with fruits and water. Vanaras shouldbe careful to avoid poisonous food and water. Great warriorsRushabha, Kumuda would follow the army led by Neela. Oldpeople, boys, weak persons should stay in Kishkinda. Rama andLakshmana would occupy the shoulders of Hanuman and Angadarespectively. Raja Sugreeva would travel by palanquin carried bycarriers. Sharp nails and teeth were preferred weapons of vanaraswho reached and occupied the area of sea shore on north side.

They saw Vibhishana standing in the sky along with hisfour followers. Vibhishana informed vanaras that he came over toget protection from Rama. Rama consulted important leaderswhether to allow him to stay with them. Some of the leaders likeShambhu, Angada, Mainda expressed doubt about admittingVibhishana into Rama’s army as he belonged to rival party. Theytold that no one should be believed at this juncture when warpreparations were on. Rama could not take any decision. He askedHanuman’s opinion. Hanuman replied that it was upto Rama’s willand pleasure to allow Vibhishana in the party. He told that Ramawas sarvagna. There was nothing unknown to Rama. Vibhishanathough from rival party was good. He was a follower

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and staunch supporter of Dharma. Vibhishana defied his brotherRavana and requested asylum from Rama. Hanuman informedthat it was not the time to point out the loopholes or mistakes of aperson who came for asylum. Lastly, he left the decision to Rama.

Rama was kind enough to bless Vibhishana and gaveabhaya and granted protection. Rama announced firmly that itwas his pledge to excuse and protect people who come to himseeking pardon. Even if Ravana comes to him seeking raksha hewould be protected. Vibhishana became a devotee of Rama. Hestood as a strong soldier, clever and active advisor in Rama’sbatallion. He served and helped Rama wilfully through out hiscareer. The landing of Rama at the shore of ocean was brought tothe notice of Ravana through spy Shardula. Ravana sent Shukato Sugreeva to turn him to his side leaving Rama. But Sugreevarefused Ravana’s proposal.

Sugreeva and Hanuman asked Vibhishana to suggest away to cross the ocean. Vibhishana suggested Rama to pray toSagara to give the way to cross the ocean.Vibhishana told theexistence of Sagara was due to the kindness of SagaraChakravarty of Ikshvaku vamsa. Rama sat on a bed of grass andprayed to Sagara for three days for which there was no responsefrom Sagara. Rama fiercely warned Sagara and picked up arrowto punish him. Immediately Sagara with folded hands stood beforeRama and advised that only vanara Nala was able to constructthe bridge on ocean as he was blessed by his father Viswakarma,a godly sculptor. Rama led the arrow picked up to punish the race

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of thieves Druvyakulyam, in which the water was completely driedand a great hole was formed. Thus the arrow was not wasteful.

Nala began to construct the bridge on the sea. Vanarascarried mountains, trees and threw into the sea. They constructedthe bridge to the extent of fourteen yojanas, twenty yojanas, twentyone yojanas, twenty two and twenty three yojanas on first, second,third, fourth and fifth day respectively. They constructed bridge onthe sea to the tune of one hundred yojanas only in five days.Vibhishana walked in front of the army with a sword in hand todetect any foe on the way. The army followed him.

Rama and Lakshmana sat on the shoulders of Sugreevaand Angada respectively. Rama declared war on Lanka. He dividedthe army into batches and positioned them at specific places.Angada and Nala stood at the center of the army, Rushabha onright, Gandamadhana stood on the left side. Rama and Lakshmanastayed on the main part of the army. Rama plannedGarudavyuham. Jambavanta and Sushena were staged atimportant places. Shuka who was arrested was let free by Ramawith instructions to watch the army and tell to Ravana the greatnessof his army. Again Shuka and Sarana came in disguise to watchthe batallions of Rama and were caught by Vibhishana. Even thenRama was kind enough to leave them unhurt. On hearing strength,firmness and kindness of Rama, Ravana was afraid to someextent. Ravana was not satisfied with information secured so far.Again he sent spy Shardula to collect more information regardingRama and Sugreeva and their army.

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Shardula observed the ability of the army and told to Ravana towithdraw from the war and make friendship with Rama as it wasnot easy to win over them. But Ravana refused to listen to hisgood words.

Ravana had a crooked plan to deceive and threaten Sita.He showed the head and bow of Rama to Sita with the assistanceof Vidhyujhwa rakshasa. The head and arrow were artificial. ButSita believed that they were real and got disturbed. She wept fora while.

Sarama, wife of Vibhishana was a devotee of Rama. Sheinformed Sita that Rama and Lakshmana were safe and alive.This was a stage scene created by Ravana who did not care forthe words of old demon Avidda to free Sita. Thus Sarama consoledSita.

The ministers of Vibhishana namely Anala, Sharabha,Sampaati, Praghana went to Lanka and found the secrets ofLanka’s army.

Lanka was spread over hundred yojanas. It was locatedon the peak of a mountain. It was guarded by a strong force.Ravana stood on the highest mansion observing the Rama’s army.Ravana attracted the looks of Sugreeva. Sugreeva jumped tothe mansion and caught Ravana’s neck and he threw the crownof Ravana in dust. Bitter fight took place between them. Ravanacould not control Sugreeva. Ravana used maya and trappedSugreeva but Sugreeva narrowly escaped and came back. Rama

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warned him not to be adventurous and undertake risky measureswithout planning as he could not tolerate if any bad happened toSugreeva. Sugreeva regretted his hasty actions. As a last resortRama sent Angada to Ravana for negotiations. Rama followedpolitical morality and Dharma but due to Ravana’s arrogance warbecame unavoidable.

Finally war started. Crores of vanaras suffered blows fromdreadful weapons, trees and rocks while rakshasas suffered bitesof sharp teeth and nails of monkeys.

Demon Pragnana died in the hands of Sampaati. Hanumankilled Jambumalini. Nala killed Pratapana. Agniketu, Rashmiketu,Suptagna were killed by Rama. Vajramushti, Nikumbhasura,Ashaniprabhu, Vidyunmalini were killed by vanaras Mainda, Neela,Dvividha, Sushena respectively.

Angada attacked Indrajit, son of Ravana. The fight betweenthem was fierce. Angada demolished the chariot and killed thehorses of Indrajit. The driver of the chariot was dead. Indrajit whowas seriously injured sought for the help of magic. He launchedNagastra on Rama and Lakshmana who were tied by it and felldown unconsciously. The other vanaras could not find whereIndrajit was who was invisible.

Sugreeva lost courage. All his followers were worried.Indrajit returned to Lanka and announced the demise of Ramaand Lakshmana. He ordered to celebrate enemy’s death ceremonyin Lanka. Hearing the bad news, Sita was afraid and

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began to weep. On instructions of Ravana, Sita was taken to theplace where Rama and Lakshmana were laid down unconsciously.All vanaras were weeping and they were helpless. After sometime,Rama gained consciousness. He too was worried for his brotherLakshmana whom Rama valued more than his wife or kingdomas he was right hand to him. Lakshmana was a outer life of Rama.Rama told that he would not return to Ayodhya without brotherLakshmana. Vibhishana also worried much. Garutmanta called,God Garuda, came over there and touched Rama and Lakshmana.Lakshmana came to consciousness and wounds of both brotherswere healed. The news that Rama and Lakshmana recoveredfrom the effect of Nagastra reached Ravana. He was surprisedand sent Dhumraksha to fight against Rama. Dhumraksha diedin the hands of Hanuma.

Angada killed Vajradanshtra. Kumuda, Nala, Mynda hadtight fight with rakshasas. Rakshasa Akampana raised fiercely tothe occasion and tortured vanaras. Hanuman picked up a big treewith roots and beat him on his head and killed Akampana. Anothergreat warrior Prahasta was appointed as head of army by Ravana.He was followed by ministers, warriors Narantaka, Kumbahana,Mahanadha, Samunnata. They faced bad omens which wereneglected by them. They had fearsome battle with vanaras.Dvividha, Durmukha, Jambavanta, Tara killed rakshasasNarantaka, Samunnata, Mahanadha, Kumbahana respectively.The loss of followers made Prahasta angry and he started to killvanaras vengefully. Vanara Neela beat Prahasta with big rock on

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head and Prahasta died. The death of Prahasta shook Ravanaand he was afraid.

Ravana accompanied by his son Akampana, Indrajit andgreat charioteer Atikaya and others, Mahodara, Pishacha, Trisura,Kumbhasura, Nikumbha, son of Kumbhakarna reached battle field.Sugreeva faced Ravana at first. Sugreeva threw a tree at Ravanawho in turn hurt Sugreeva with sharp arrow. Sugreeva fell downlosing consciousness. The vanaras Gavaya, Gavaksha,Sudanshtra, Rushabha and Jyotirmukha, Nabha attacked Ravanaat a stretch. But it was in vain. All other vanaras gathered aroundRama and sought protection. Rama prepared himself to faceenemy Ravana. But Lakshmana asked brother to permit him toface Ravana. Lakshmana attacked Ravana with limitless anger.Rama warned Lakshmana to be careful while dealing with Ravanaas he was clever, bold and tactful warrior and warned Lakshmanato watch for the lapses of Ravana and make use of them. Thiswas the good quality of Rama to praise greatness of enemy andrecognise it where warranted.

With blessings of Rama, Lakshmana reached battlefieldand attacked Ravana directly. In the meanwhile, Hanumanintervened and got a strong blow on chest by Ravana. Hanumanwas shaken by the blow for a minute. Immediately he too retaliatedwith a death blow with his strong palm to Ravana. Ravana wasalso shaken like a mountain hit by earthquake. Ravana praisedthe capacity of Anjaneya.

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Vanara Neela climbed up and sat on the crown of Ravanaand began to jump here and there. Witnessing the scene, Ramaand Lakshmana were surprised. Ravana used Agneyastra to getrid of Neela, which made Neela to fall down with a great injury.

Now Lakshmana faced Ravana who tortured him withsharp arrows and astras granted by Brahma. In turn Lakshmanamade Ravana suffer till he became senseless. Again Ravana gotup and launched a powerful weapon called Shakti on Lakshmanaand Lakshmana became unconscious and fell down. Ravana triedto lift Lakshmana and take him to his place. But it was not possible.Ravana failed to lift Lakshmana as he was avatara of Adisesha.Hanuman observed the situation and beat Ravana on the chesthurting him badly. Hanuman lifted Lakshmana and carried him toRama’s shelter. After gaining consciousness, Ravana becameviolent and created chaos among the vanaras. Vanaras tried torun away from the field. Rama decided to attack Ravana. Ramasat on the shoulder of Hanuman. Rama demolished the chariotand killed the horses of Ravana. The flag of Ravana was cut down.Charioteer was no more. The bow slipped and fell down from thehands of Ravana. The status of Ravana was degraded and hewas helpless. Then Rama gave a golden opportunity to Ravanato think again and again to choose good and worthy path. ButRavana chose the wrong path which led him to horrible andterrifying death. Rama told Ravana who was tired in war and unableto stay firmly to go back and return next day, prepared freshly withall equipment and accessories to fight with him. It

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was a great and untolerable insult to a real warrior like Ravana.There was no other choice to Ravana except to accept thechallenge thrown by his rival.

Ravana returned home with shame. He recollected all hiscruel activities like insulting women like Vedavati, Rambha andkilling the Ikshvaku dynasty king Anaranya who cursed him to diein the hands of king of Ikshvaku dynasty. He was bitterly afraid ofRama. But he failed to realise the Dharma and it’s influence. Itwas his bad fate which led to not only his horrible death but alsothe demolition of entire Lanka and it’s people.

Kumbhakarna was the brother of Ravana. He had a hugebody and he was ugly looking. At a time he used to sleep for aperiod of six, seven and nine months. When he was woken up itwas common for him to eat heaps of rice, a number of animals asfood and big vessels of liquor and raw blood for fluids.

Kumbhakarna had gone to sound sleep just nine days priorto the day Ravana was insulted by Rama in the war. Ravanaordered to wake him up so as to be sent to war. Soldiers tried veryhard to wake him up. They made loud voices with beating drumsnear his ears. They bit his ears. But he did not get up. They madethousands of elephants walk on his rough body. They poured waterinto his ears. But Kumbhakarna had no sensation. Lastly with greatdifficulty they succeeded to get him to wake up.

He was very hungry and thirsty. He ate food, meat andswallowed blood, liquor in huge quantities. He was informed that

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his elder brother Ravana was waiting for him. ImmediatelyKumbhakarna was present before Ravana who ordered him towage a war against Rama and his army. Kumbhakarna preachedfew good and right words to Ravana to surrender Sita to Ramaand save Lanka and it’s people. But Ravana blamed Kumbhakarnawith harsh words. But for obliging elder brother Ravana,Kumbhakarna entered the battlefield fiercely. Looking at his hugeand ugly body, vanaras were frightened and began to run away.Kumbhakarna caught and put tens and hundreds of vanaras intohis wide mouth. Vanaras Dvividha, Hanuman jumped onKumbhakarna. Kumbhakarna made Hanuman suffer by usingweapon Shakti. Angada hurt Kumbhakarna with lance.Kumbhakarna was injured. In turn, he kicked Angada stronglywith palm.

Sugreeva attacked Kumbhakarna but could not stay beforehim. Kumbhakarna returned to Lanka carrying Sugreeva in hisarmpit. Sugreeva was unconscious for some time. WhenKumbhakarna was stepping into Lanka, Sugreeva got up and bitears and nose of the rakshasa, who lost stability. Sugreeva slippedand escaped from clutches of Kumbhakarna and jumped to theplace where vanaras and Rama waited for his return. Hanuman,being a servant could not attack Kumbhakarna to get Sugreevareleased lest his master’s prestige is lessened.

Kumbhakarna got irritated and ate number of vanaras.Lakshmana faced him. Kumbhakarna did not care for Lakshmanaand attacked Rama directly. Rama cut his two hands with Indrastra.

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Even then, Kumbhakarna tried to catch Rama. Rama cut his twolegs and filled his wide mouth with arrows. Kumbhakarna lost lifeto Indrastra used by Rama. The head of Kumbhakarna fell in thecity of Lanka and body into the sea. The death of Kumbhakarnamade Ravana sad.

Trisura, Atikaya, Narantaka, Devantaka rose ferociouslyand attacked vanaras with double strength. Narantaka, Devantaka,Mahodara were killed by Angada, Hanuman and Neelarespectively. Hanuman killed Trisura with his own sword. Rushabhakilled Mahaparshva. Atikaya fought with Lakshmana who killedhim with Brahmastra. Hearing about the death of his sons andfollowers, Ravana could notice the power and vigour of Rama.Ravana was losing courage. He felt sorry for not having heard thewell wishing words of Vibhishana who was exiled.

Only one son, Indrajit was alive for Ravana. He wascapable of miracles and maya. He injured Gandamadhana witheight arrows, Nala with nine arrows, Mynda with seven arrows,Gaja with five arrows. Vanaras were unable to face him. Indrajitwho was invisible poured powerful arrows on Rama andLakshmana. He used Brahmastra on Rama and Lakshmana forwhich they had high respect. Respecting Brahmastra, Rama andLakshmana stood silent and fell down on earth losingconsciousness. Indrajit returned to Lanka with pride and informedfather that Rama and Lakshmana were dead and all vanaras alsofell down on earth. Vibhishana, Hanuman searched for othersoldiers with lights in their hands. Vibhishana found Jambavanta

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who was lying down and enquired his welfare. Jambavanta at firstquestioned whether Hanuman was alive and safe. Vibhishanaquestioned Jambavanta as to why he was enquiring about onlyHanumanta leaving aside Rama and Lakshmana. Jambavantareplied that if Hanuman was alive all vanaras were with life. IfHanuman was not safe the safety of all vanaras was questionable.This indicates the importance and value of Hanuman in Ramayana.

In the meanwhile, Hanuma reached Jambavanta and stoodat his feet with folded hands. Jambavanta felt happy on hearingto Hanuman and told him to go to a mountain containing Ayurvedicmedicinal trees. That mountain was located in betweenVrushabhagiri and peak of Kailasa. The medicines were Mruta-Sanjivini (life-giving), Vishalya Karani(the power giving to moveafter getting life), Sandhana Karani ( medicine to heal the woundsand make skin normal), Savarna Karani (medicine which wipesout scars and increases the beauty of skin). Jambavanta instructedHanuman to proceed to a particular mountain and get themedicines without loss of time to save Rama and Lakshmana.Hanuman flew to the mountain but he could not detect the treesof medicines which were hidden. Hanuman had no second thoughtand he picked up the entire mountain and carried it to their camp.As soon as mountain arrived, with a whiff of wind blowing on themedicines, Rama and Lakshmana got up. Rama ordered Sugreevato set fire to Lanka. The Lanka was burnt to ashes. Knowing thefact that Rama and Lakshmana were alive, Indrajit

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returned to battlefield. Prior to arrival of Indrajit, Kumbha andNikumbha, sons of Kumbhakarna and Makaraksha fought anddied in the field. Indrajit wanted to lessen the courage of Ramaand Lakshmana, he killed a black goat. The arrows used by Ramaand Lakshmana were in vain. Lakshmana wanted to smash alldemons with Brahmastra. Rama stopped Lakshmana by sayingthat it was not fair to kill all the rakshasas and innocent people forone’s fault. Indrajit was their only aim. He should be punished.This shows the magnanimity of Rama who followed Dharma evenin the battlefield. Knowing the mind of Rama, Indrajit returned toLanka. He wanted to create chaos among the enemies with adreadful scene. He caught the hair of maya Sita and cut her headin the presence of vanaras. Hanuman witnessed the scene andwept. Hanuman informed Rama of the cruel scene he saw. Ramaalso became nervous and began to weep for Sita not knowing thecrooked plan of enemy. Vibhishana brought the reality to the noticeof Rama and told that it was a trick played by Indrajit to deceiveand lessen the courage of rival. It was only maya played by Indrajit.Sita was safe in Ashoka vana. Vibhishana informed Rama thatIndrajit wanted to gain time to perform worship of Nikumbila devi,due to influence of whom nobody could defeat him.

Indrajit started worship of Nikumbhila. Lakshmana withVibhishana, Hanuman and other leaders reached the place ofHoma and waged war on demons guarding the Homa. Hearingthe commotion among the demons, Indrajit got disturbed. Thus,

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Nikumbhila Homa was distrupted in the middle. Indrajit wasoverwhelmed by unexpected hindrance to Nikumbhila Homa. Heattacked Lakshmana with great displeasure. Hanuman gotLakshmana seated on his shoulder. They severely and seriouslyinjured each other. Their bodies were covered with sharp pointedarrows and a bloody battle continued. Indrajit blamed his unclefor having released the secrets of kith and kin to enemy. Vibhishanareplied that he was on right path and he committed no sin. And headvised Indrajit to apologise to Rama. The horses of Indrajit werestolen by vanaras, Pramadi and Sharabha, Rabhasa andGandamadhana. Indrajit got down from chariot. He wanted to usethe powerful astra called Shakti on Vibhishana, but Lakshmanabroke down the Shakti astra used by Indrajit who went back to getanother chariot. Indrajit used a powerful astra granted by Yamaand Lakshmana in turn used astra granted by Kubera on Indrajit.Both astras were in vain. Lakshmana thought that divine power isneeded to kill the opponent. Then he took pledge on Rama sayingif Rama is follower of Dharma, truthness and a great warrior, letthe enemy be killed by this arrow. Pledging on Rama, he left thearrow on Indrajit. The arrow cut the head of Indrajit who lost hislife. Soon Rama took Lakshmana to his heart and appreciated hisvigour and wisdom. Rama appreciated Vibhishana and Hanumanfor their timely help.

Hearing the news of demise of his lovely son Indrajit,Ravana became inconsolable. He went to Ashoka vanam to killSita. Sita was afraid that she would really be killed by Ravana. A

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gentle minister namely Suparshva diverted the mind of Ravanasaying that it was not proper to kill a woman. If he was a realwarrior he should kill Rama and marry Sita.

Ravana sent a large number of soldiers with deadlyweapons to attack Rama. Rama was very furious. Vanaras pulledthe weapons from hands of rakshasas and killed them with theirown weapons. Rama killed demons in countless numbers. Ramaappeared to each rakshasa as a separate person. They wereunable to understand how Rama was using and leaving the arrowsand how quickly they were hitting the rakshasas. Rama alonedemolished eighteen thousand elephants, ten thousand chariots,fourteen thousand horses and lakhs of infantry, within a one anda half hour. Ravana entered the battlefield from north in a chariotwhich was pulled by eight horses. His left eye and left shouldertrembled and this was a bad omen. But he did not care for badomens. Virupaksha and Mahodara both lost lives in the hands ofSugreeva. Angada killed Mahaparsva. Ravana looked on Ramaand poured a group of arrows on the forehead of Rama. Thearrows released from Ausurastra were with mouths of lions, tigers,eagles, crows, foxes and suffered Rama much. Rama launchedAgneyastra and made Ravana worthless. In the meanwhile,Lakshmana hunted Ravana with seven powerful arrows. He torethe flag with a symbol of skull of man flying on the chariot ofRavana. Ravana directed his attention on Vibhishana who killedthe horses and wanted to punish him with lance. Lakshmanaintervened and made the weapon released by Ravana useless

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and saved Vibhishana. Then Ravana released the most powerfuland strong weapon called Shakti on Lakshmana which hit himhard on the chest and injured him grievously and made himinactive. When Ravana took shakti to launch on Lakshmana, Ramaprayed to the weapon not to kill his brother. Thus that weaponhad little influence on Lakshmana. Rama pulled out that sharpweapon from chest of Lakshmana who was lying down inactive.

Rama worried for his younger brother. He said that hewould live without wife Sita and kingdom. But he was unable tolive without Lakshmana, sahodara. Rama expressed his unboundlove and affection towards Lakshmana by saying that wives areavailable everywhere but it is difficult to get sahodara likeLakshmana. Rama decided to renounce his life for Lakshmana.

The doctor in vanarasena namely Sushena told Rama thatLakshmana was alive.Sushena directed Anjaneya to get themedicine from mountain which he had brought previously. AgainAnjaneya brought mountain itself to save time. Sushena the doctordetected the ayurvedic medicines and squeezed into powder andput to nose of Lakshmana with which he woke up. Rama felt happyfor Lakshmana’s recovery. Lakshmana consoled Rama from grief.He encouraged Rama to wage war against Ravana and kill himand to crown Sugreeva as per the word given to Sugreeva. Ramarealised his promise and responsibility and attacked Ravana.Ravana stood on the chariot but Rama stood on the earth. Indrasent his chariot with charioteer Mathali to Rama.

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The fight between Rama and Ravana was very fierce anduncomparable to any other fight. The Gods, Godesses, Rushis,Yakshas, Gandharvas, all creatures in the world were afraid oftheir fearful battle. Ravana stood undefeated. Both were injuredseriously. And both stood as equal rivals. As soon as Rama cutsthe head of Ravana, another head would be grow back up on hisneck. Seeing this, Rama was disgusted. Agastya came to Ramaand preached the meritorious “Adityahrudayam” which enabledRama to kill Ravana. All lokas felt happy on death of Ravana. AllGods poured flowers on Rama from sky. War was over. Mandodariwife of Ravana along with other women who were in loss of theirlife partners came to battlefield. And they wept. Mandodari blamedRavana for turning deaf-ear to her requests to not to pick up quarrelwith Rama who is considered to be avatara of Maha Vishnu. Onadvice of Rama, Vibhishana performed obsequies to his elderbrother Ravana. Vibhishana was crowned as king of Lanka.

With the permission of Vibheeshana and Rama, Anjaneyacame to see Sita and informed the death of Ravana. All womendemons were afraid of Sita, expecting punishment from her. Sitaexcused all women servants. Vibheeshana too came to Sita withpermission of Rama and asked her, to come over to Rama aftertaking a pious bath and wearing valuable ornaments. But Sitawas very anxious to see Rama and rushed to the place of Ramawithout taking bath. She stood at a distant place to Rama expectinga warm welcome from him. But Rama did not react to theexpectations of Sita and he asked her to prove her chastity by

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entering into fire. On instructions of Rama, Lakshmana arragedfire. Sita prayed the God of fire, to prove her chastity and enteredin it. Soon the God of fire took Sita in to his hands and came outof fire and appeared before Rama and told that Sita was chasteand she spent all the time in devotion of Rama. Sita knew that thetest is for people but not for Rama and Sita. Rama wanted toavoid comments on the character of both himself and Sita by thepeople in future. Rama took Sita to his hands and received herwith joy. Brahma and other Gods reminded Rama that he was theavatara of Maha Vishnu and Sita was Maha Lakshmi. They askedRama not to behave as a human being. Rama replied to themthat he was born as human being and he should act as humanbeing only adopting the morals intended for mankind. He wantedto behave exemplarily to coming generations of human beings.Vibhishana arranged Pushpakavimana for Rama to go to Ayodhyawith Sita. Sita wanted to take the wives of vanaras who helpedthem along with them. Then the vanaras like Sugreevaaccompanied Rama and Sita with their wives. Rama sent Hanumanto Nandigrama to inform Bharata about his arrival to avoidundesirable sacrifice by Bharata. Hanuman went to Nandigramand informed Bharata the arrival of Rama with Sita, Lakshmanaand others. Rama instructed Hanuman to observe the mindset ofBharata whether he was fond of kingdom. If Bharata wanted to bethe ruler, Rama was prepared to deprive himself of the kingdomand luxuries.

Dasaratha Maharaja, father of Rama came to battlefield

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in a Vimana after the grand victory of sons and blessed them. Onrequest of Rama, God Indra made all vanaras alive who died inthe battle. Mothers Kousalya, Sumitra and Kaikeyi along withimportant leaders, people proceeded to Nandigrama whereBharata invited Rama and Sita with heartful glory. Bharata gavefoot wear to Rama and submitted kingship humbly. Ramaproceeded to Ayodhya with wife, mothers, brothers, Rushis,ministers and people. The people of Ayodhya were very happyand joyous.

The coronation of Rama as King was performed in a grandmanner. The entire kingdom was covered with festive atmosphere.Gods, Goddesses, Kinnara, Gandharva, Vanaras and bears werepresent in countless numbers. Rama and Sita had a sacred bathwith Ayurvedic medicinal juices. The celebration of coronation wasperformed by Vasishta, the family purohita. The crown filled withdiamonds, gems was worn by Rama under the blessings andmantras chanting by rushis. Horses, cows with calves and oxenwere distributed as benevolent gifts to Brahmins in a largenumbers. On suggestion of Rama, Sita presented her necklaceto Hanuman as a token of appreciation.

Rama and Sita were very happy. The rule of Rama wasmarked for Dharma. People had pleasant life and reign of Ramawas called Rama Rajyam wherein Dharma and Satya flourishedin full bloom.

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CHAPTER - 7

That was winter season. One day Rama and Sita had ajolly trip in the garden. Sita expressed her desire to see lands oftapovanas. Rama agreed to fulfill her desire.

Rama called on meeting of ministers and spies. Sometimepassed by with narration of funny stories and jovial talk with poetslike Vijaya, Kasyapa, Keliya. Rama enquired Bhadra the spyregarding the news and talk about the king Rama and his family.Bhadra was hesitant to reveal the truth before his beloved kingRama who pressurised him to tell the truth without any hesitation.

Bhadra felt sad and told Rama that public was praisingRama as a great ruler, worthy king but criticizing him for receivingback Sita who was under the custody of Ravana ignoring herchastity. These words hurt Rama as thunderbolt. Rama orderedLakshmana to take Sita to the banks of Ganga and leave hernear to tapovana, on consultation with his three younger brothers.Sumantra arranged chariot. Sita had a view that she was taken towitness the tapovana. She happily sat on chariot, travelled nearto tapovana of Valmiki on banks of Ganga. When Sita was veryhappy, Lakshmana slowly revealed the fact that she was beingleft forever by Rama on account of criticism of public on herchastity. Sita was shocked hearing to words of Lakshmana andshe blamed her bad fate.She told Lakshmana that she would notbe the cause for any diminution in the prestige and fame of Rama.

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She expressed her respects to her mothers-in-law and Rama andall other people. Reluctantly Lakshmana returned to Ayodhya. Onthe way, Sumantra told the great secret to Lakshmana to avoidhis grief. Sumantra told that Dasaratha Maharaja knew thevanavasa and departure of Sita to Rama. Dasaratha had a curseof a Rushi, father of MuniKumara Sravana who was killed by himby an arrow launched on the base of Shabdhavedi. Dasarathahad a curse to the effect that he would die repenting for son.Sumantra told that Rama would rule the kingdom for 11000 years.He would sacrifice wife and two sons would be born to Rama in atapovana. This was a well-known fact to Dasaratha as told bySumantra.

Maha Vishnu who took the avatara of Rama cursed byBhrugu maharishi for having killed his wife who supported andprovided shelter to rakshasas. The entire fact was told by Durvasamuni to Dasaratha. Sumantra heard the words of Durvasa but hecould not reveal to others as he had a oath to Dasaratha. Ramawas worrying the viyoga of Sita and he was consoled byLakshmana who knew the secret of Rama’s birth and the curse ofDasaratha.

One day, a bleeding dog approached Rama and soughtjustice. It was beaten by a Brahmin. Rama called on Brahmin andconsulted ministers as to punish the Brahmin. SimultaneouslyRama asked dog how to punish the Brahmin. Dog told to appointthe Brahmin as a head of the monastery. Rama and ministerswondered about the decision of the dog. Dog explained the reason

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for it’s birth as a dog. In his previous janma, he was a Brahminworshipping the God in temple. Inspite of his honesty, due to useof oil relating to God unknowingly, he was born as a dog in nextjanma. If this cruel Brahmin is appointed as monastery there waspossibility of his committing many mistakes and blunders to get aworse birth.

On another day a Brahmin boy died and his body wasbrought to sabha of Rama. Father was weeping and blamed Ramathat his son’s untimely death occurred due to adharma occurringin rajya ruled by Rama. Rama went in search of adharma activitycaused untimely death of Brahmin’s son. He flew from place toplace in pushpaka vimana in search of adharma activity. Lastly hefound that one non-Brahmin was performing tapas on river’s baseupside down. Rama questioned him about the reason for his tapas.The person replied that his name was Shambhuka and he wasperforming tapas to attain swarga with living body. While thatperson was replying Rama cut his head with sword. Immediatelythe dead Brahmin boy started breathing again. All gods praisedRama for his timely decision and action.

There was Valmiki ashrama on the banks of Ganga river.Some of the shishyas of Valmiki observed pregnant Sita andinformed Valmiki maharishi. Valmiki consoled Sita with affection.Being a daughter-in-law of Dasaratha, wife of Rama, daughter ofgreat Janaka Raja, Sita should not weep, Valmiki told. Sita wasleading peaceful life in Valmiki ashrama. She gave birth to twinmale children. Valmiki performed all rituals required by them. He

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named them as Kusha and Lava. Kusha and Lava were growinggradually under the watch and guidance of Valmiki. Valmiki taughtthem Vedas, Shastras, Dhanurvidya etc. Shatrughna onsuggestion of Rama killed Lavanasura. Rama felt happy andcrowned Shatrughna as king to Madhurapuram. After rebirth ofBrahmin boy, Rama wanted to perform Rajasuya yagam. Bharatahinted to Rama that Rajasuya yagam leads to war and loss oflives of people.

Lakshmana proposed to perform Ashwamedha yagaminstead of Rajasuya yagam. It was decided to conduct yaga onthe bank of Gomati river in Nymisharanya. Under the ableleadership of Bharata, Ashwamedha yagam was to be conducted.Bharata carried the golden statue of Sita to the place of yaga.Gold, diamonds, gems, jewelry were distributed as charity. Theyagaswa was left and Lakshmana followed it as protector. Yagawas being conducted. On indications of Valmiki, Kusha and Lavawalked in the streets and surroundings of palace of Rama singinga story of Rama called Ramayana in rhythm and tune. They sangthe first twenty sargas as told by Narada maharshi. Rama heardthe soft and melodious voice of children and ordered to bring themto his presence. Kusha and Lava sang the story of Rama in frontof Rama and this attracted the members in the sabha. Rama wasvery much influenced with their song. Rama asked Bharata tooffer huge gifts to Kusha and Lava who politely refused them sayingthat they were not required for the life of sages. Rama understoodthat those two boys were of his own and they were trained byValmiki maharshi.

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Rama sent a word to Sita to come over to Rajasabha withpermission of Valmiki and prove her chastity. Sita came beforeRama and stood in his sabha and took pledge that if sheworshipped Rama throughout life and if she maintained chastitylet her mother, Bhudevi come and absorb her into the earthpermanently. As soon as her pledge was over the GoddessBhudevi appeared before them blessing Sita and took her to handsand entered into the earth. Rama and his brothers, sons and peoplewere in agony. Thus the avatara of Maha Lakshmi as Sita cameto an end. Rama did not marry again. He performed thousands ofAshwamedha yagas and many a Suvarna yagas keeping thestatue of Sita besides him. Kousalya, Sumitra, Kaikeyi were dead.Bharata was sent to wage a war against Gandharva RajaShaylusha who was defeated. On victory, Rama told that sons ofBharata namely Taksha and Pushkala would rule the Gandharvakingdom. Taksha ruled Takshashila and Pushkala ruledPushkalavathanagaram. Bharata conquered Karuvada kingdomand made sons of Lakshmana rulers. Angada ruledAngadiyapuram and Chandraketu ruled Chandrakantam. Bharataand Lakshmana were engaged in service of Rama. After somedays kalapurusha in the form of rushi came and asked Rama todiscuss in a lonely place. He put a condition that nobody shouldcome when conversation was on. If anybody disturbs theconversation he should be sentenced to death. Tapasi told Ramathat the ruling period of eleven thousand years was over. Herequested that Rama end his avatara and come back to devaloka

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as told by Brahma. In the meanwhile, the rushi Durvasa came toRama. Lakshmana requested him to wait for some time as Ramawas engaged in secret talks. Durvasa threatened Lakshmana thathe would smash the entire dynasty of Rama if he would not seehim immediately. Lakshmana decided to sacrifice his life to savethe dynasty. He entered the room where Rama and tapasi were indiscussions. He informed the arrival of Durvasa to Rama. Ramawas very sad. No option was left to Rama but to punish Lakshmana.Vashishta advised Rama that expulsion is equal to death. Ramaexpelled Lakshmana and Lakshmana entered Sarayu river andrenounced life.

Rama wanted to make Bharata as king of Ayodhya torenounce the avatara. Bharata denied the proposal of Rama. Ramaestablished south kosala and north Kosala. He constructedKushavati and Shravasti towns and declared his sons Kusha andLava as kings. The sons of Shatrughna, Subahu and Shatrughatibecame the rulers of Madhuranagara and Vidisha respectively.Rama blessed Hanuman and asked to stay at Bhuloka till hisstories are heard widely on earth. He asked Hanuman to do RamaSankeertana. He said Jambavanta, Mynda, Dvividha to be on theearth till the entrance of Kali purusha on the earth. He told thatHanuman and Vibhishana would stay on earth till pralayam occurs.Rama wore thin clothes. He had two kalashas with sacred waterin his hands. Sri Lakshmi and Bhudevi walked right and left toRama. Elder people, youngsters, servants, women of royal palacefollowed Rama with great respect and devotion. Rama walked to

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a distance of one and a half yojana and entered river Sarayu anddisappeared.

All Gods and Goddesses expressed hearty welcome toRama. Brahma welcomed Rama from sky itself. Rama turnedinto Maha Vishnu along with three brothers. Rama asked Brahmato place all of his followers in Brahmalokam.

The Ramayana is a sacred text which reaps fruits of punyato the readers. One who reads, writes, narrates, propagatesRamayana will attain moksha as told by Valmiki Maharishi. Let usread Ramayana and attain Moksha.

Shubham.